Slayers Born
by Thrythlind
Summary: Nineteen or twenty years after the end of Kitsune Lina, a new generation takes over the adventuring. Complete, Slayers Bred is this fic's sequel.
1. Kitsune Forest

  
Slayers Born  
  
  
  
Kitsune Forest  
  
  
  
"You're not leaving the city," the Regent declared in that cool,   
mysterious monosyllabic manner that his daughter had never quite been able to   
duplicate.  
"But I want to see all those people that depend on us to provide   
Justice." Her father arched an eyebrow, and shook his head sadly. He always   
acted like that whenever she talked about Justice.  
"No, its not safe," he answered, it was amazing how she could act so much   
like her mother without having ever known her.  
"Dad, I'm an excellent swordswoman, you've been teaching me magic since I   
could read, and I'm a chimera."  
"You're a chimera," he agreed, then turned towards his desk to look over   
some documents with exaggerated attention. Amethyst rolled her purple eyes,   
and shrugged her shoulders, determined not to lose this arguement.  
"But isn't that a good thing?" she asks.  
"Here, you're the crown princess," he told her. "Out there   
you're...different." Amethyst scratched her head, confused.  
"But isn't diverisity necessary?" it was almost a direct quote from one   
of her tutors. Zelgadis smiled, she was distracted from her request, this   
was good.  
"People fear what they do not understand," he explained.  
"But why would..." she narrowed her eyes, unbeknowest to him acquiring a   
fair similarity to her father. "Wait a minute...this isn't what I was here   
for." Zelgadis sighed, well it was only a matter of time before she finally   
caught on to that trick.  
"Isn't it time you were practicing your sword technique?"  
"Daaad, I want to travel like you and mom did," she declared.  
"No, you aren't ready for what's out there."  
"Aren't you always saying that someday all this training was going to   
save my life?"  
"Yes, but..."  
"And aren't you always saying that I should get as strong as I can?"  
"Yes," okay when did she learn to use his own words against him. "But   
still..."  
"Well I can't get any stronger just sitting around here all the time, can   
I?" she looked up at him with pleading eyes. "Please dad, I want to be the   
best I can be."  
"You have a point," he conceded. "Perhaps it is time for you to learn   
about life outside these walls." She shrieked happily and hugged him after   
hopping off the floor. She hit the ground with a hard click, her ivory skin   
contacting the solid stone of castle floor.  
"Oh Thank you, thank you," she repeated excitedly. Then her father   
cleared his throat, she settled down and stood demurelly and obediantly   
waiting for the conditions. Zelgadis looked her over quietly, he had never   
quite figured out his daughter's ability to go from hyper to quiet in a bare   
instant.  
"You will have to bring an escort," she started to protest. "And perhaps   
I know where you should start."  
"I was going to look for Lina Inverse," Amethyst gulped as her father   
whipped around and stared at her. "Everybody knows about the slayers, Dad.   
You, mom, Gourry, Lina and Xellos."  
"Yes, but most people thinks that Lina Inverse is dead, she wanted it   
that way," he noted. "You've been in your mother's things." She pouted.  
"How else am I going to learn about her, nobody will tell me anything   
other than the stories about the slayers, and I suspect they alter them."   
She narrowed her eyes again. "Lina's letters seem to indicate that she fell   
in love with Xellos after she died."  
"Well, I guess it doesn't matter," he grumbled. "If you head East and   
look for a woman named..."  
"Filia? The Dragon-Maid?" Zelgadis stared at her for a moment.  
"You've got this fairly well planned I see," he commented.  
"Well, umm, Dad...you see..."  
"Never mind, you are my daughter, I should have expected you to find   
things out on your own," he admitted. "Yes, go find Filia, she'll know how   
to find Lina."  
"Thank you dad, I'll prepare immediately." She bounced away happy to be   
seeing one of her Dad's former companions. She'd snuck into the tomb of   
heros once or twice to see the tombs of her grandfather, mother and Xellos,   
but Lina was alive, and she could probably tell Amethyst about her mother.   
Maybe, she doubted it, but maybe, Lina could tell her how her mother died.  
  
Xalan set the staff across the back of his shoulders and curled his arms   
around it. He let them drop, making him look almost like he was dragging a   
plow, as he considered where to go from here. He normally didn't have   
trouble following a scent or trail, but looking for his sister was a   
different matter entirely. His ears perked as he caught the suppressed   
giggle. Xalan sighed and twirled his staff off his shoulders, poking it into   
the shadow of the tree behind him.  
"Hey! Stop that," he poked a couple of more times, eliciting a hyper   
giggle. "That tickles, stop it!" He set his staff on the ground and watched   
as his sister's purple haired head, peeked out of the shadow. It was one of   
those things they could do that their mom said came from their father.   
"How'd you find me anyway?"  
"You laugh too much," he said sitting down as his sister walked all the   
way out of the shadow and sat down. Over her doe-skin tunic and breeches she   
was wearing a glittering set of blue scale mail. "Now, can we get back   
before mom notices you took her armor...again."  
"Ummm, not yet," she decided. "Hey, you want to see what I found?" Xina   
snapped to her feet and started running off.  
"Come on, Xina!" he shouted after her. "We don't have, all that much   
time."  
"Oh, don't be such a worry wort, Xal," she turned around stuck her tongue   
out at him. Xalan's ears perked in surprise then laid back in annoyance as   
his red furred tail swished along with his mood.  
Xina finally stopped at the cliff overlooking the road through the   
forest. Xalan came up to join her and saw a small, if well armed, camp down   
below.  
"Its just a bunch of inbred nobles," he grumbled.  
"I'll bet Val would be interested," his sister whuffed in annoyance, tail   
flicking once.  
"Val's a dragon, he's interested in anything with money," Xalan stood up   
and started to turn away, then he noticed somebody stretch and walk away from   
the camp. He sat back down again and watched her. "I'm going to get a   
closer look."  
"See, I knew you'd be interested," Xina smiled triumphantly.  
"Quiet, they'll hear you," Xalan whispered as he slipped forward. He   
eventually found himself sitting in a shadow high in a tree watching the   
figure that had caught his eyes. He didn't know precisely where Xina was,   
but that wasn't exactly top on his mind any more.  
The girl wasn't much younger than him, maybe sixteen or seventeen, a   
fairly young noble to be out on her own with such a small guard. He couldn't   
help but whuff in disgust at what nobles felt they needed for safety, he and   
Xina were well capable of handling themselves by thirteen. Still, he   
suspected this girl could handle herself well without the guard.  
She had stiff hair, like steel wire perhaps, he first thought it might be   
silver, but the smell was thankfully wrong. Her skin was sleek and white   
almost like ivory, spotted here and there with what looked like outcroppings   
of translucent purple crystal or gems. She smelled like pure metal and   
unblemished stone. Yes, he had been right, the girl was a chimera like in   
his mom's stories.  
"Hey are you looking at that girl?" Xina asked suddenly nearly slamming   
into him. Xalan wheeled his arms, desperately trying to keep his balance,   
and failing.  
"Whoaa!!!" he was aware of free fall and then slamming into the ground.   
"Damn it, Xina!"  
"Sorry!"  
"Excuse me, but you shouldn't spy on people like that," Xalan looked up   
into the face of his object of study only a few moments ago.  
"Yeah, well we live in this forest," he retorted. "And you're just   
passing through, so who's got a stronger case here?" He stood up and brushed   
himself off, as Xina dropped down next to him. The girl, obviously the noble   
of the party as the guardsmen were now moving to back her up.  
"Should we run these....creatures off?" one of them asked.  
"Why should I want you to do that?" she asked, surprising both Xina and   
Xalan. They hadn't really been concerned with the guardsmen, but it was   
still a surprise that this noble girl hadn't taken offense yet. "They're   
right, they live here we don't."  
"Boy, I thought she was a noble," Xina said blinking. "She doesn't seem   
nearly as stuck on herself as she should."  
"Xina..."  
"I am a noble," the chimera responded. "I'm Princess Amethyst Lina   
Greywyrds-Sailoon." Xalan nodded, the name suited her. "Though, my father   
would agree with you actually."  
"Hey, our mom's name is Lina!" Xina declared.  
"Really, what are your names?"  
"I'm..."  
"We're Xina and Xalan Metallium!" Amethyst blinked, and the guards   
shuffled in surprise.  
"As in Xellos Metallium?" she asked, her voice carrying an awestruck tone.   
  
  
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	2. Leaving the Grove

  
Slayers Born  
  
  
  
Leaving the Grove  
  
  
  
"I said....What are you doing here?" Jolrael's lips pressed together in a   
thin line as he heard the question. He turned about and looked up at the elf   
that had asked the question. Sure enough it was Glithoniel. At sixteen,   
Jolrael looked about three years older than the elf, but he was human.   
Glithoniel was probably three times his age, and rather unhappy about the   
"mere human's" rapid growth. Unfortunately, Gourry's level of social   
maturity also far outstripped the elf's.  
"I'm reading," the dark-haired human answered tightly. He looked back   
down and started turning pages again.  
"You call that reading?" the elf taunted. "All your doing is looking at   
each page for a second or two."  
"Actually, its more like half a second," Jolrael corrected him.  
"What's the matter, the pictures not interesting in that book?" Jolrael   
looked up, honestly puzzeld.  
"What pictures?" Then he turned back to the book, he was almost finished   
and he really didn't want to be interrupted at the moment. The elf blinked   
in surprise.  
"Just like your father," Glith laughed. "Too stupid to even recognize an   
insult." Jolrael yawned, closed his book and looked up. Glith scratched his   
head.  
"Don't you have anything better to do?" Jolrael demanded. Glith's hand   
moved from scratching his head to scratching his shoulder.  
"I'm doing my civic duty making sure you Gabrievs don't clutter up the   
Grove," he was scratching his arms now. "Somebody has to, even if you   
savages breed like roaches. At least you don't live much longer."  
"I seem to recall that the original Gabriev lived longer than most   
elves," Jolrael pointed out. He stood up, overtopping the elf by at least   
two feet, and looked down.  
"One freak out of the lot of you," he muttered, scratching frantically   
now. "Just a bunch of savage idiots."  
"And this 'savage idiot' is already quite a bit larger than you," Jolrael   
pointed out. "Nasty itch by the way, perhaps you should see my mother about   
it."  
"Jolrael Gabriev!" the young human winced and turned to see his mother   
standing there looking mildly irate. Though he could tell that she was in   
fact rather amused. "That is certainly no way to behave."  
"Sorry mom," Jorael apologized quietly. Glithoniel, who had been   
scratching with greater desperation, blinked as the maddening itches suddenly   
just stopped. He looked about in confusion before his gaze settled on a   
slyly grinning Jolrael.  
"That's better," his mother nodded in satisfaction. "Now, I'm sorry   
about that, he sometimes isn't as patient as he should be. Now, I believe   
your sister was looking for you." Jolrael looked up at the mention of the   
young elf's sister, Glithoniel noticed and grumbled irritably. Jolrael   
shrugged, as if bored and walked away from the scene, towards home.  
"Don't let me catch you around my sister, Gabriev!" the youthful looking   
elf shouted before leaving, trying to stomp as much as an elf could stomp.  
"That boy certainly needs to grow up and learn some manners," Sylphiel   
commented. "Jol, back here, now." Jolrael sighed and walked to his mother.  
"I wasn't doing anything, mom," he pleaded. "I was just reading."  
"In the Grove," she noted. "Where even your father's elven relatives   
aren't entirely welcome. Seriously, they're bad enough in this part of the   
city without provocation." Sylphiel was amazed anew at just how Gourry   
had managed to grow up with these arrogant elves and not turn out rather bad   
tempered and paranoid. Then again, she had to admit that the elves on the   
Gabriev side of the city weren't anything like the older elven families. Her   
own position as a priestess and powerful worker of white magic accorded her   
great status even among Glithoniel's relatives, but she was the exception   
among most of the humans.  
"I wasn't provoking anybody," Jolrael protested. "I was just sitting   
and...."  
"Waiting to see if Tinuviel would walk by?" Sylphiel asked.  
"Mom...."  
"That's enough reading for now," she commented. "Its time you got home,   
then I can start dinner."  
"Chili?" he asked hopefully, Sylphiel sweatdropped and cleared her throat.  
"Not tonight," she said.  
  
"You know, we don't have to live here," Gourry said, after hearing the   
story later. "There are plenty of human kingdoms in the world."  
"Please, dear," Sylphiel rolled her eyes, he did this everytime. "I love   
your family, and most of the elves are no problem. Its just the odd few that   
need to spend some time outside the forest."  
"Are you sure?" he asked. She reached up and playfully swatted him in   
the back of his head.  
"Don't worry about me I'm fine," she said. "And Jol would be too, if he   
didn't go looking for all the really arrogant elves to annoy."  
"I don't think he's looking for trouble," Gourry protested, rubbing the   
back of his head.  
"I agree, that he'd grow out of," she agreed. "Actually he's been rather   
smitten with that Tinuviel girl, perhaps he should talk to your uncle."  
"That's no good."  
"Why not?"  
"Uncle Rand met Aunt Liriel when he rescued her from an orc slaver," he   
said.   
"She seems nice enough, and she's always talking to Jol about some book   
or another. I wouldn't think it would take a grand adventure to convince her   
that he's worth a chance."  
"No but, Uncle Rand rescued Aunt Liriel a couple weeks away from here.   
They had a long time away from her family to get to know each other."  
"Well, maybe he'll find some way to get her attention," she yawned and   
snuggled closer to him under the sheets.  
"Well I know you have my attention."  
Jolrael was in his room packing. All he had heard in passing his parents   
room was the bit about going on a grand adventure to impress Tinuviel. Of   
course, his parents weren't likely to let him go on a grand adventure, but   
that was easily solved.  
  
"What are you doing Jol?" Jolrael turned around and looked at his younger   
sister.  
"Kyrie, what are you doing up?"  
"Up where?" Jol rolled his eyes, apparently his father's intelligence   
went hand in hand with his hair coloring. Still Kyrie was a lot smarter than   
she acted, just like their dad.  
"No, what are you doing awake?"  
"I heard you getting dressed and wanted to see what you were doing," she   
said simply.  
"I can't sleep," he said. "I was going to go practice my katas."  
"Why do you need the backpack?"  
"Ummm," he paused, considered, and then made eye contact with his sister.   
"You're not awake, this is a dream, go back to bed so you can finish   
sleeping and wake up in the morning." As he spoke he saw her eyes glaze over   
slightly until they blinked clear when he finished.  
"Why am I dreaming about you running away, Jol?" she asked him.  
"I don't know," he said. "Ask me in the morning." She thought about it.  
"You didn't hypnotise me did you?"  
"Do you feel hypnotised?" She thought about it.  
"No."  
"Well I guess not then."  
"Okay, see you tomorrow."  
"See you tomorrow, Kyrie." She yawned and walked back to her room.   
Jolrael smiled, and sighed with relief.  
"Good night, mom," Kyriie yawned as she closed the door behind her.   
Jolrael winced and turned around slowly. There was his mom again, yawning   
and looking half asleep. Of course, hypnotising her was out of the question,   
she'd been practicing magic for far too long to fool her mind so easily.  
"Mom, I can explain," he started.  
"Why don't you wait until tomorrow morning," she said. "At least say   
goodbye to everyone first."  
"You're not going to stop me?"  
"Right now, yes," she said. "But you'll only leave later when I'm paying   
attention. Besides, I like it here, but you could do with some time in the   
human world."  
"So you and dad will let me leave tomorrow?"  
"Properly equipped, yes. I don't think he'll be too much of a problem,   
so do we have a deal. You'll wait until the morning, I'll make chili."  
"Okay mom," he smiled. "I'll wait until tomorrow." He went back to bed   
still smiling, Sylphiel watched him and shook her head sadly as she went back   
to her own room.  
"I hope that girl appreciates this," she muttered wearily.  
  
The next day went pretty much like his mother said, after many   
frustrating explanations to his father. There was only one thing that he   
didn't expect. At some point, just before he was leaving, Jolrael's father   
came out of his parents' bedroom carrying a sheathed sword. The magical   
blade that he had found to replace the lost sword of light.  
"You'll need something a little better than that practice blade of   
yours," Gourry commented.  
"Thank you, dad," he said a little in awe. "I'll try to use it well."  
"Hope you don't have to use it at all," his mother lectured. Jolrael   
grinned sheepishly. "Good Luck." She hugged her son and then backed away a   
step, tears in her eyes.  
"Bye, Jol," Kyrie sad quietly, waving. He hugged her, suddenly glad for   
this chance. "Quit it Jol!"  
"Remember to travel south and west," Gourry reminded him of their plan.   
"You should reach Sailoon in a couple of months. If you're lucky, you'll   
find Filia along the way."  
"Okay, Dad, I'll be back," he promised seriously. "Just watch me." Then   
he walked off down the path, into the world.   
  
  
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	3. Old News

  
Slayers Born  
  
  
  
Old News  
  
  
  
The cloaked figure walked into the Tomb of Heros quietly and confidently.   
The night seemed to follow the figure like a second cloak. And as it passed   
people felt a desire to look away, to not notice the stalking darkness. It   
walked quickly and silently, well aware that even it was in peril here. It   
wasn't so much any one individual, though the Regent-Prince was powerful, he   
wasn't as powerful as her. The problem was the sheer number of priests and   
white mages.  
The figure brushed fingers along the marble walls and laughed at the   
scorch marks that trailed behind. Come morning the marks would be found and   
repaired with magic and sweat, but that was of no concern. By the time they   
knew anything had happened she would be away with the last fragment of power   
she needed. The only fragment that was more than just power. The key.  
She stopped before a tomb that was different from all the rest. Instead   
of the mottled white marble that predominated, this tomb plate was a solid   
black. It almost appeared to be a piece of the shadows. Carved into stone   
and lined in darkly shimmering steel, was the name Xellos Metallium.  
"A mazoku in a tomb shielded by white mages," the figure mused in a   
feminine voice. "How very....silly." She reached forward to grip the edges   
of the stone. She cried in pain as there was a flash of black light that   
threw her backwards. She blinked and looked at tomb, its sinister appearance   
now more than a curiousity.  
The sound of approaching footsteps, determined and purposeful footsteps,   
convinced her to fade back into the shadows of the tombs. The Regent-Prince   
appeared flanked by a number of lesser spellcasters.  
"What was it milord?" The Regent-Prince turned an annoyed glare on the   
priest, he didn't like his title. Then Zelgadis turned his eyes back to the   
scorch marks along the other blessed tombs.  
"Mazoku," he guessed. "Tampering with Xellos's tomb."  
"Could it be..." a priestess gulped. "Xellos himself?" The Regent   
turned a look on her that wordlessly conveyed the phrase, "did you work to   
become that stupid, or are you a natural?"  
"There's a power here, fading now," Zelgadis noted brushing the stone.   
"There must be a shielding on the tomb, triggered by true mazoku. So who   
cast it and what did the mazoku want?" He scanned about, suspecting that the   
mazoku was still around. Further than that, he suspected who the mazoku   
might be. He walked away from the tomb, tapping his chin.  
Martina grumbled as the chimera approached her, seemingly deep in   
thought. She teleported away as he began to turn and face her. Zelgadis   
caught a glimmer of green before the cloaked figure vanished from all sight.  
"Place wards about the tomb," Zelgadis commanded. "Next time it will be   
thieves of a more mundane nature."  
  
Lina was catching up to them, curiousity and suscpicion swirled in the   
back of her mind. There was a chimera in her forest, a chimera that smelled   
like a palace. Amelia and Zelgadis's child to be sure.  
  
"Xellos was our father," Xalan admitted cautiously. "And you know about   
him, how?"  
"How do I...." Amethyst facefaulted. "He was one of the SLAYERS, like   
your mom and my parents."  
"The slayers, oh you mean like mom's old friends," Xina said then.   
"Wait, did you say your name was Greywyrds?"  
"Yes, Princess Amethyst Lina Greywyrds-Sailoon," she repeated. Amethyst   
looked down at the shorter kage-kitsune curiously. "Why." Xina looked her   
over quickly and hmphed turning around to leave.  
"Xina, what are you doing?"  
"I'm leaving," she said. "She's a GREYWYRDS!" she said the name with   
obvious distaste. Xalan blinked, and turned to face the confused looking   
girl.  
"Your father is Zelgadis Greywyrds?" he asked.  
"Why, what's the matter?" she asked, confused. Her guards closed ranks   
behind her, a pair starting to move into a position ahead of her on either   
side.  
"I think we should leave after all," he said coolly.  
"But I was hoping to see Inverse-sama," she protested.  
"She might not want to see you," Xalan said, moving to join his sister,   
who turned her nose up again as the twins started to fade into the underbrush.  
"But why not," Amethyst pleaded trying to follow. "What's wrong with my   
father?"  
"Xina, Xalan," the guards and Amethyst whirled to see a red-furred fox   
woman with a streak of silver fur standing behind them. She had finally aged   
some without her magic, though her aging was still slowed down by her   
regenerative abilities. She couldn't be called underdeveloped now. Even if   
she hadn't really gotten bigger, her chest had filled out, losing its former   
childish appearance. Xina often hoped that the same would be true of her   
someday. "Come back here."  
"Mom?" Xalan asked, as he stalked back out of the forest. "What are you   
doing here?"  
"She's a Greywyrds, mom!" Xina declared loudly. Lina walked forward with   
her arms crossed, eyeing Amethyst, a little taller than her, minutely. The   
were-fox cocked her head in the manner of a fox seeing something unusual.  
"You'll have to excuse my children," Lina said. "Zelgadis and I   
have....." she thought about for a moment. "...differences."  
"He's reponsible for our father's death," Xalan explained, his mother   
tuned a disapproving glare on him. Amethyst's eyes widened in shock.  
"There was nothing in mother's letters about that," Amethyst protested.   
"What happened?"  
"He didn't mean for my Xellos to die, if that's what you're worried   
about," Lina told her. "But that's between us and Him, not between us and   
Amelia's daughter." She gestured for her twins to come forward. Xalan   
nudged Xina who hmphed and stalked irritably over towards the ibory skinned   
girl.  
"I'm sorry," she declared, with a irritated glance at her mother. Xalan   
followed and stood behind his sister protectivly.  
"Sorry, I made an assumption that I should not have," his apology seemed   
geniunely sincere, but Amethyst looked suddenly nervous and doubtful. Xina   
hmphed again, trying to whuff like her mother could.  
"You ARE Lina Inverse," it was all she could think of to say.  
"I would have thought that was obvious," Lina said. "Now perhaps you and   
your....escorts," she seemed to find the guards humorous for some reason.   
"Would like something more secure than these tents to spend the night, then   
perhaps you can bring me news. I haven't heard from you mother since I guess   
a month before you were born. How is she?" Amethyst narrowed her eyes,   
trying to decide if that had been a joke or not.  
"My mother has been dead for a long time," shs informed them grimmly,   
looking more like Zelgadis than Lina found comfortable.   
  
  
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	4. Royal Problems

  
Slayers Born  
  
  
  
Royal Problems  
  
  
  
"You look like a traveling mercenary," the speaker was a suspicious little man in a thick cloak, with the occasional spark of magic escaping out.  
"My what an interesting assumption," Jolrael noted as he looked up. The man blinked.  
"You mean you aren't a travelling mercenary?" he asked.  
"Not at the moment," the sorcerer face faulted. "But why do you want one anyway?"  
"I'm making a pilgrimage to Sailoon, I was hoping that you would be willing to act as a caravan guard." Jolrael thought about it, this man was setting off alarm bells in his head like crazy. Pyschic and otherwise, still he was looking for adventure, and this felt like one. He'd just have to watch his back. "Can you use that sword?"  
"I'm decent," of course, he was comparing himself to his father. Gourry Gabriev who was one of the best swordsmen from the elven school of fighting, which was still probably the strongest style on the continent.  
"Are you interested in the job?" the man asked sharply. There went those alarms again, he didn't need a guard. He wanted bait or cannon fodder for something, he recognized the basic set up from numerous pranks pulled on him in the past, he didn't need a sixth sense in this case. What other reason to look to a kid like him with open doubts about his capabilities? Jol shrugged, better him than some poor dumb idiot without a clue.  
"I'm already travelling to Sailoon," he said. He had been planning to take a few days to look for this Filia person, but apparently adventure had come to him. "Why not?"  
"Good, we have to meet someone in the forest first," the man informed him.  
Nearly two hours later Jolrael caught one of the "pilgrims" alone, obstenisbly for a game of dice. It took only a moment to hypnotise the man.  
"Who is our employer?"  
"A scion of one of the old noble houses of Sailoon," the man answered dreamily.  
"Who are we meeting in the forest?"  
"Sailoon guardsman."  
"Why?"  
"He is with Princess Amethyst's escort, kill her and our master is the next in line for the thrown." He arched an eyebrow, his parents knew this girl's parents, more bad luck for these "pilgrims" then.  
"And you need me to blame it on?"  
"Yes." That was going to be more difficult than it sounded, at least Jol intended to make it so.  
"Thank you," he looked down at the dice and picked them up. "Oh yes, you just lost." Jolrael released the man's mind then.  
"Damn it," he looked up at the young man. "Beginner's luck, boy, I'll be getting that back. Just you wait!"  
"You're welcome to try," he smiled. The "pilgrim" suddenly had the feeling that he had missed something.  
  
"I'm sorry," Lina said quietly. "I hadn't heard, how did it happen?"  
"Actually, I was hoping you could tell me," Amethyst said dejectedly, losing the Zelgadis-like expression. Lina looked over Amethyst's guards, and noted how they were still very nervous.  
"Well, I don't know about you, but standing in the road isn't my idea of relaxing," Lina declared. "Before we get this meeting on the road, let's go sit around your fire and have some dinner."  
"But we don't have anything but trail rations," Amethyst said. "That's hardly the kind of fair that befits such a hero.....a LEGEND." One of the guards snickered, attracting glares from both of the twins.  
"Well perhaps Xina and Xalan can retrieve some of our stores," Lina suggested without turning about. "They seem to want a little exercise anyway." The were-fox turned to appraise the "borrowed" armor and arched an eyebrow.  
"We'll be right back," Xalan promised tightly giving his sister a look left no room for mistranslation. As soon as they were out of sight she responded in a whisper, not wanting their mom's impressive hearing to pick up on it.  
"Okay, okay, so taking the armor again was a bad idea," she admitted.  
"You're lucky mom's distracted," he told her. "Last time she made you chop down a tree with a herring."  
"Why is she so happy about this stone-girl?"  
"What's wrong with Amethyst," Xina started to open her mouth and Xalan for once managed to head her off. "Aside from the fact her father is Zelgadis Greywyrds."  
"That's not enough?"  
"She seems nice enough, not at all like mom said her father's like," he pointed out.  
"Oh well, its not worth bothering about," Xina decided, returning to her normal cheerful self. "Come on let's hurry up and get this done with, I suddenly have an idea!" She ran ahead down the path, leaving her brother to catch up.  
"An idea?" Xalan repeated nervously. "Wait a minute! Xina! What kind of an 'idea' are you talking about?"  
  
"Soembody tried to steal something from the Tombs," the speaker glanced around to make sure nobody heard. "From that mazoku's tomb."  
"Someone was looking to descrate Xellos Metallium's tomb?" the grey-haired man feigned an aghast expression. "And you think this is something I might be interested in?"  
"Perhaps if you get it first, you can sell it to whoever wants it."  
"An interesting idea, it bears merit, what can you tell me about the defenses."   
"The priests were placing wards on the tomb, and I think they increased the guard detail."  
"I'll tell you what, if you manage to get something, I'll pay you for it what I think its worth."  
"You want me to...."  
"You want me to move my thieves with such risk on such little information?" the man asked. "Who knows, maybe you'll get an unforeseen chance."  
  
_Hello my love._  
Zangulus shifted uncomfortably in his cot. He was dreaming again. Twenty years after Martina disappeared on her renewed quest for vengence and he was still having dreams about her. They had been getting more common of late, more real.  
_There's something I need, Zangulus._  
"Go away," he muttered wearily. "You're just a dream."  
_Right now I'm just a dream, but I could be real to you again._  
Zangulus sat up and stretched aching muscles. He had gone back to bounty hunting after Martina had left him, so he was still in near prime condition. His hair was graying and the stiffness and pain took longer to leave, but he was still a dangerous opponent.  
"Damn dreams are getting worse all of a sudden," he complained to himself as he walked to the inn's cheap little desk that held his travelling gear.  
_Go to Sailoon, my Love, open the mazoku's tomb.  
_He blinked and cast about the room looking for where the voice was coming from. A soft hand brushed his cheek from behind. He turned and saw nothing, but his long lost wife's laughter filled the room.  
"Stop it! Stop it!" he shouted.  
_I need what's in the tomb Zangulus, then I can make you young again, and we can be together, forever. _Zangulus understood now.  
"Martina, are you here?" he asked.  
"Of course, I am dear," he turned and faced Martina, still as young as when she vanished. He noted the slit pupils and narrowed his eyes.  
"You're mazoku," he commented darkly.  
"What if I am? I'm still your one-true love, I'm still Martina," she approached him and brushed his unshaved face. "And I need you, dear. Can't you see that I need _you?_"  
"You left me."  
"And now I'm back," she countered. "If you had the opportunity to track down Gourry wouldn't you have done the same?" He thought about, though he had to admit that it was hard to think with her pressed against him like that. Twirling her fingers in his greying hair.  
"I suppose, I would," he admitted finally.  
"Good, because perhaps you will. He's still alive, and the remaining slayers might try and stop you. This is your chance to show them all up, and I can give you power."  
"Then we can be together," he asked, voice a little dreamy.  
"Together forever, my dear," she promised. "But first bring me the mazoku's body, you'll know how to find me. I can't do it, it has to be a mortal, like you."  
"I'll bring you the Tricksters body, my love," he promised. "Don't worry about anything."   
  
  
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	5. Xina's Word

  
Slayers Born  
  
  
  
Xina's Word  
  
  
  
Lina sat down at the fire watching Amethyst's guard. Some of them smelled nervous, some of them smelled untrusting, but only one of them smelled angry. She watched him carefully. Zelgadis had been careless once, but he didn't like Xellos. This was his daughter, he would have been very careful who he sent out to escort her.   
'Then again,' Lina thought with an exasperated look. 'Sailoon produces some excellent plotters.'  
Lina kept an eye, or an ear rather, on the suscpicious guardsman while she sat down at a fire across from Amethyst.  
"I haven't heard from your mom since before you were born," Lina said. "My last letter went unanswered."  
"Never opened," Amethyst added. Lina looked at her. "That's how I knew you were alive."  
"You don't remember anything about her?" Lina asked.  
"No, nothing at all," Amethyst answered.  
"She must not have died long after you were..." Lina's eyes popped wide and her ears flicked in surprise. She looked over the young chimera once. "...born." she finished slowly in a hoarse, canine breath.  
"What is it?" Amethyst asked nervously.  
"I just realized how much you look like your mother," she said. It wasn't quite true, her resemblance to Amelia was grounded mostly in her attitude, but it got her off the topic.  
"Really," she asked. "Most people say otherwise." Among the few similarities Lina did notice was the early-developing chest that she had been so jealous of when she was younger.  
"Oh certainly," Lina said. "And I'm almost certain that she would be proud of you now." Amethyst's ivory cheeks flushed red for a moment.  
"Why, thank you, Inverse-Sama." It was Lina's turn to blush at the near reverence in the young girl's tone.  
  
"Don't worry, I'm right behind you," Xina promised. Xalan looked at her doubtfully. "Do you think I'd pull something now?"  
"Maybe not," he responded. "You did say you had an...idea."  
"Yeah, I have an idea, but I can't do that right now," Xina answered. "Listen, mom's waiting for us. I'll just leave the armor here and catch up with you, okay?"  
"Xina, if you piss off mom now..." he cocked his head to side and gritted his teeth. "Well, maybe she'll come up with something to make herring look easy."  
"Okay," she sighed in frustration. "I promise to be back on father's grave as soon as I can."  
"Good," he nodded, trying to think if he missed something. "I'll see you at the camp down."  
"Didn't I say that?"  
"Okay, don't take too long," he looked back once at his sisters too-cheerful face and then started running along with the deer that he had pulled from storage. As soon as he was gone, Xina bounced up and clapped happily. She skipped outside and looked up into the sky, night was falling quickly.  
"Okay, Val should be getting there soon," she muttered and then took off running on her own path.  
Xalan arrived at Amethyst's camp site about fifteen minutes later as his mother was trying to get off the subject of what magic Zelgadis had taught her. Magic was always an uncomfortable subject with his mother, and though she never said why, he suspected. Xina had once asked about going off to learn magic and their mother had categorically said that magic was impossible for them.  
"You're half-mazoku," she had said. "So you don't have the curse, but the damn moon is still in your blood." He had always wanted to ask about that, confirm his beliefs.  
"You used to be a sorceress, mom?" he asked as he set down the deer. He feigned surprise, but doubted he would fool her, acting as if he put something together from how Amethyst was talking. Speaking of the young chimera, she face-faulted at the comment.  
"She was the greatest sorceress!" Amethyst declared. "She's your mom, how can you not know that?"  
"I don't like to talk about it," Lina answered for her son. "Where's Xina?"  
"She was putting the armor away," he said. "Promised to be back her as soon as possible." Lina heard the half-formed doubt in his voice and sighed.  
"What were her _exact _words?" Lina asked.  
  
Val lay back against the rock and looked up into the night sky. He liked this kind of night, with the sky clear and the stars bright. In fact the only thing about nights like this was that there was always chance that...  
"Hey, Val." The only thing about nights like this were that Xina knew he came here and might show up asking for a favor.  
"Uh, hi Xina," he looked over at her. She was wearing her mother's armor, that wasn't a good sign. She looked especially happy and pleased with her self too, meaning she just managed to fool Xalan. Usually that wasn't an easy task, but Xina had a talent for confusion.  
"Nice night huh?"  
"It is," he agreed.  
"Um Val?" right to the awkward request, boy, this was fairly big. "How fast can you get me to Sailoon?" If he weren't already laying down, Val would have face faulted.  
  
"Great, this is just great," Lina grumbled as she stood up. When her son had repeated Xina's exact words she had slapped her forhead in exasperation. "Xalan stay here and keep an eye out. I'll go get your sister before she gets herself into real trouble."  
"Sorry mom," he said. "I thought I had caught everything."  
"Not your fault," Lina said. "Not entirely anyway, she's got a lot of her father in her." Then Lina was padding into the forest on her fox feet, probably travelling faster than Xalan could.  
  
"There they are," the sorcerer noted. "Where's the scapegoat?"  
"That elf-boy?" despite the fact Jolrael was definitely no elf, his clothing was certainly elven and marked his land of origin.  
"Of course him, who did you think I meant?" the sorcerer snapped hoarsly  
"Well," the man's second swallowed nervously. "We can't find him anywhere?"  
"You can't find him," the sorcerer repeated flabergasted. "Have any of you been talking?"  
"Around him? No, of course not, sir."  
"But you have been talkimg. He could have overheard at anytime."  
"I..." he appeared chagrined. "I suppose so, sir."  
"He's gone off to warn the princess," the sorcerer decided. "Track him down, and stop him. He's just a boy how hard could it be?"  
In addition to the few counter tracking tricks he knew, few compared to the people he had grown up with, Jolrael was not even on the ground. He was half-leaping, half-floating from tree limb to tree limb as he moved toward the camp in attempt to save the princess.   
  
  
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	6. System Shock

  
Slayers Born  
  
  
  
System Shock  
  
  
  
Xalan and Amethyst stood among the Sailoon guardsmen in a bit of an anxious silence. Xalan poked at the meat as it cooked on the hastily erected spit.  
"Your father saved the world you know," she piped up suddenly.  
"Mom mentioned that," Xalan nodded.  
"Oh the slayers are great heros in Sailoon," Amethyst suggested. Xalan heard that snicker from before again and looked to see one of the guardsmen. Other than that occasional snicker, he seemed on the surface to be a loyal guardsmen. Like Lina, though, he could smell the anger on the man that was lacking in everybody else.   
"My father doesn't say much about them...." she suddenly started glancing about, avoiding Xalan's face. "I guess...I know why now."  
"No one else ever mentioned..." Xalan stopped and sniffed the air. "Lots of visitors today." he muttered.  
"Are there too many of us?" Amethyst asked. Then her slightly less acute senses caught the scent too. "Is this friend or foe?" Her guards finally caught on to the situation.  
"Stay back your highness," one of them said. "If this is a bandit of some type we'll handle him." Xalan did not fail to notice that they formed a small wall between him and the princess. He rolled his eyes, but then the owner of the scent appeared at the end of a tremendous leap. The human, he smelled human at least, then seemed to float lightly to the ground.  
"Princess Amethyst's troupe I hope," he said.  
"State your name and business," Xalan noted the fine elven silks and scratched his head.  
"He doesn't much look like a peasant," Xalan said, turning around. Before the guardsmen could react he had leaped over their line and was jabbing forward with his staff into the angry guardsman. Pushing the man back before they overcame their surprise.  
"Hey, stop him!"  
"What's going on?" Amethyst asked suddenly, as her guards surrounded and tried to engage Xalan. Two of them broke off to engage the dark haired swordsman, who simply leaped over them and froze in mid-air standing more than a swords length above their heads. "All of you stop this right now."  
"Amethyst, that guy was trying to stab you," Xalan warned as he parried and dodged sword thrusts easily. He was finding it easy to stay alive, doing it without hurting any of these other guardsmen was proving somewhat difficult now.  
"Don't be silly," Amethyst declared. "He's my guard, besides the dagger wouldn't get through my skin." A dagger flew to the newcomer's hand and he turned it over in his hands as he continued to hang out of reach. She pointed shocked. "That's an enspelled dagger." Her face had a shocked expression before she turned an angry glare on the traitorous guardsman.  
"I thought it might be," he said, drfiting slowly to the ground. "Perhaps we could save all this for when my employers get here. I'm sure they've realized that they aren't going to find me before I warn you."  
"Die freak!" the traitor shouted, revealing his intent for all to see he charged Amethyst with sword drawn. The loyal guardsmen stopped fighting Xalan and turned to intercept him, they didn't need to. The angry golem tossed a dagger at the man.  
"Shadow snap!" she shouted as the dagger sank into his shadow and anchored the man into his place.  
"About time," Xalan muttered.  
"You dare to raise a hand against your princess," despite her expression, she sounded more aghast and shocked than enraged. "Why would you do such a thing?"  
"You freak, looking for why your mother died," he tried to hit her with his sword but couldn't get close enough to her. The loyal guardsmen stared at him smooth, standing between him and   
"What does this have to do with my mother's death?"  
"Perhaps we should wait until we deal with the other bad guys first," Xalan suggested. At the statement the newcomer looked up from examining the dagger and blinked as if he was just realizing that they were there.  
"Oh yes," he said. "My employers."  
"Your mother died in child birth!" Amethyst stared in shock as she processed that information. "You claim to want justice, justice sees you dead, monster!!"  
  
Lina knew where her daughter was heading. The only way she could hope to get to Sailoon any time soon would be to talk to a certain dragon. Lina growled quietly to herself, she had thought her problems with Val Garv would have been over when he got zapped into a baby. Of course she hadn't counted on living around Filia any time soon. She hadn't planned on having kids any time soon either. She certainly hadn't planned on her daughter taking a liking to someone that had almost destroyed the world.  
Lina stopped, catching the scent on the air, a lot of men carrying oiled steel. She could guess where they were going, suddenly her suspicions about the angry guardsman were a great deal stronger. Xalan was an excellent warrior, she didn't quite understand how, he just was it was like he pulled the techniques from the air. Still there were a lot of people coming, and she wasn't sure about Amethyst's ability to fight. Knowing magic and swordcraft was one thing, using it quite another.  
On the other hand she had to catch up to her daughter before she convinced Val to give her a quick lift to Sailoon. She was certain that Xina would find some way to trick or persuade the dragon to do it. Of that Lina had NO doubt.   
Xina really was a great deal like Xellos, though she a lot more scatterbrained and impulsive than the mazoku had been. Still, she had that same way with words. Her son seemed to have inherited Xellos's forethought and cautious attitude. He had a tendency to take responsibility on himself that wasn't initially obvious in Xellos.  
The choice was thankfully taken from her as she heard the dragon's wings striking air above her and the forest. She looked up and saw Val's dragon form cruising past in blur towards Sailoon.  
"That takes away that, option," Lina said, then she cracked her knuckles. "So I guess its time to re-earn the title bandit-killer then."  
  
"My mom is going to kill me when she hears about this," Val asked in what Xina assumed as a irritated manner. The guess was made uncertain by the fact that he always sounded irritated when he was in dragon form.  
"How old are you?"  
"Twenty-two, why?"  
"And you're still worried about what your mom is going to do to you?"  
"Which reminds me." The dragon grumbled as the countryside rolled along below.  
"Reminds you about what?"  
"Where should we go to get the herring on the way back?" Xina hmphed, she would have crossed her arms, except that she was hanging on to Val's back at the moment.  
"No one is ever going to let me forget that, are they?" she mumbled to herself, hoping that it would be lost in the wind.  
"Why should we?" the dragon answered just to let her know that he heard.   
  
  
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	7. The Pilgrimage

  
Slayers Born  
  
  
  
The Pilgrimage  
  
  
  
"Attack!" in response to the yell everyone but Amethyst and the traitor   
turned to face the oncoming bandits. The guards left two of their number to   
guard Amethyst and the traitor while Xalan turned about with a "yep, knew   
they were coming attitude." Jolrael grumbled irritably something about   
"perfect time to go into shock," as he drew his sword and turned to face his   
former employers.  
The first wave of bandits flowed toward them across the road towards the   
small clearing that the camp was situated in. There was a bandit for each of   
the four guardsmen on the line and two each for Xalan and Jolrael. The two   
of them had it under control before the guardsmen and their bandits could do   
much more than exchange parries.  
"I'm forgetting something," Jol muttered to himself as he cut through the   
last bandit's sword, and Xalan took the man's feet out from under him.  
"FLARE ARROW!" the two guardsmen and to shove the unaware Amethyst out of   
the spell's way.  
"Oh yeah, that's right," Jolrael said. Xalan favored him with a "how   
could you forget something like that?" look and charged into the woods. He   
fell back as more bandits came from the tree line. Xalan turned and saw   
Jolrael falling back to protect Amethyst, and whuffed in annoyance. He   
couldn't just let these idiots pass if the newcomer was going to ignore the   
present danger.  
Suddenly as they approached the shadows of the new night deepened and   
grew over the strip of road ahead of them. The bandits plowed right into the   
unnatural shadow.  
Jolrael had been planning on trying to snap the chimera out of her stupor   
with one of his little hypnosis tricks. Reaching out to her mind he came   
against a wall that was partially the mental discipline of a skilled mage,   
and partially the shock of the information she had just received. He worked   
to chip away at her defenses, unconcerned with causing harm. The paralyzing   
shock may have made an impressive defense, but it was not normal. Nor was it   
better for it to remain there.  
"FIREBALL!" Jolrael turned to watch the oncoming spell bleakly.  
"Should have known this was a bad idea," he muttered expecting to meet   
fiery breath in a moment. He had plenty of tricks up his sleeve, but nothing   
that would slow down a big ball of fire. He didn't quite have time to leap   
out of the way either.  
"WINDY SHIELD!" he heard Amethyst shout from right behind him. The   
fireball faltered and vanished as it collided with the wall of whirling air.   
"LIGHTNING!" Jol ducked as the crackling bolts of energy passed over him and   
into the trees across the road.  
"Apparently she can gather energy faster than that fat merchant-noble,"   
he muttered. Watching the energy course through the woods towards the   
fireball's point of origin, for a brief moment the lightning silhoutted a   
moderately irritated Xalan. "What?" he looked to the kage-kitsune's field   
of darkness and back to where he could have sworn he saw him.  
"FLARE ARROW!! FLARE ARROW!!! FLARE ARROW!!!" this time Amethyst saw the   
stalking form as well. She looked at the field of darkness and listened to   
the battle inside for a moment.  
"I got him! I got him!" "No he's over here!" Jol and Amethyst   
sweatdropped.  
"Where'd you come from!!" this was followed by the sound of a brief   
struggle and so there after Xalan dragging a stunned and somewhat charred   
sorcerer out of the woods. Everybody looked to the field of darkness where   
apparently the battle was still going on.  
"Excuse me sir," one of the guardsmen asked. "If you're out here, who's   
in there?"  
"This jerk's men," he said simply, then he dropped the sorcerer at the   
foot of a guardsman. "Excuse me." He walked into the shadows and for about   
five seconds the sound of battle intensified. Then it went silent and the   
darkness just dissipated revealing a pile of hacked and smashed bandits.  
At this point the sorcerer started to come to, looked around and saw that   
he was trapped. Then he smiled grimmly.  
"Don't be so convinced that you've won," he laughed. "I have plenty more   
fighters to bring into battle."  
"Yes, I believe we're missing ten of the 'pilgrims'" Jol noted after   
clearing his throat.  
"And they're his best men," the traitor declared loudly. "They..."  
"Were very tasty," the two remaining assassins looked on in shock as a   
blood spattered Lina dropped into the clearing.  
"I thought I smelled you," Xalan said, obviously proud of the   
accomplishment. The noble scanned the fresh blood coating Lina's fox-feet,   
clawed hands and half her face. Then he fainted, half of Amethyst's guards   
looked ready to do the same.  
"Uh, Lina-sama," Amethyst started. "You didn't seriously.."  
"Eat them?" Lina finished. "Of course not." The traitor guard snapped   
out of his shock.  
"Don't think we're the last Princess," the guard spat. "There are plenty   
willing to...." He crumpled under neath Xalan's staff. Amethyst slumped and   
turned away from the traitor, even winced as he was struck.  
"Amethyst," Xalan asked uncomfortably. "Are you okay?" Lina looked over   
the chimera and recognized the expression on her face.  
"No, I'm not okay!" she shouted. "Why should I be okay?" She wiped the   
early tears from her eyes and sniffed.  
"Somebody told you, didn't they," Lina sighed.  
"You mean that you knew?" she said shocked. Lina sighed and sat down.  
"I guessed," Lina told her, she looked to the unconcious traitor. "It   
was him, wasn't it." She flexed her fingers obviously restraining herself   
from attacking the unconcious man. She waved Amethyst down, and the chimera   
almost collapsed into a cross-legged position.  
"Why didn't anybody tell me?" she asked angrily.  
"Not my business to," Lina said, then she snarled at the traitor again.   
"And not his either. It might not be true you know." She glared at the   
other guardsmen, warning them not to say anything. Xalan and Jolrael stood   
off to the side looking uncomfortable.  
"You don't really believe that," Amethyst snapped, still holding back   
tears. "And I don't either. L-Sama, _I_ killed my mother!"  
"Okay, first, deaths happen all the time in child birth, this wasn't your   
fault," Lina said.  
"But...."  
"NOT your fault," Lina repeated. "The second thing is that its okay to   
cry."  
"But my Dad doesn't ever cry," Amethyst protested.  
"Hmph, that's his problem."  
"I'm NOT going to cry," Amethyst declared firmly. "A true warrior of   
justice does not cry." Lina heroically stamped the sudden urge to laugh   
after several memories of Amelia popped up.  
"Have it your way," Lina shrugged. "Now on to the other problem."  
"Xina got to Val didn't she," Xalan said. "I'm sorry mom, I really   
thought I caught everything she was saying."  
"Question," Jol put in. Everybody looked to him. "Amethyst Sailoon?"   
Amethyst nodded stiffly. Then he pointed at Lina and Xalan in turn, finally   
bringing his finger to his chin. "Lina, Xalan, and Xina. Inverse or   
Metallium?"  
"Yes," Lina admitted looking him over and taking in the scents. He was   
wearing elven silks, apparently woven with some mithril threads. He himself   
smelled of parchment and the civilized forests of the high elves. There was   
something familiar about him but she just couldn't place it, until she looked   
at the blade sheathed on his back.   
"I'm Jolrael..."  
"Gabriev?" Jol blinked in surprise.  
"Yes, how'd you know?"  
"You're GOURRY's kid?"  
"Yes."  
"But you're not...."  
"Rock dense?"  
"Right."  
"Hard to believe I'm their son isn't it."  
"This must be a sign!" Amethyst declared suddenly, sniffing away the   
remainder of her unshed tears. Lina winced, but was glad she had something   
to distract her, even if it was uncomfortably close to Zelgadis's belief in   
some furred-bird's prophecy.  
"Just coincidence that's all," Lina said. "By any chance, you weren't   
heading to Sailoon were you?" she asked the dark-haired swordsman.  
"Actually, yes."  
"Damn," Lina muttered, this was convienent. As convienent as the ways   
most of her adventures had begun.  
  
Zangulus twirled the black blade in his hand, revelling in the power   
contained within its form. He felt as if he had recovered his lost youth,   
and more besides. All he had to do was recover the mazoku's body now, and   
Martina would be his forever. She would give him power that would make these   
minorly enchanted sword look like a rusty dagger. Then Gourry Gabriev   
wouldn't be able to defeat him. Not an aged Gabriev softened by the years, a   
wife and two children available as hostages....  
Zangulus shook his head clear, surprised at the thought. Why did he need   
hostages, he'd just kill Gabriev. He didn't need any dishonorable tricks to   
do it. If he had been thinking clearer he might have looked for the reason   
such an unusual thought had occured to him, but he had more important matters   
on his mind.  
Martina needed Xellos's body. He was almost tooo Sailoon now, two or   
three days travel and he'd be there. Then it was only a matter of getting   
into the Tomb. Soon, very soon, he would have everything he ever dreamed of.   
  
  
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	8. To Sailoon

  
Slayers Born  
  
  
  
To Sailoon  
  
  
  
"At least that makes this somewhat easier," Lina muttered. "Okay, you,"   
she pointed at Xalan. "Go with them to Sailoon.."  
"Huh? You want me to..." he saw the look on her face. Lina had never   
hit her kids, but she could, at times, develope some nasty punishments.   
"Fine."  
"And these guys," she gestured at the guardsmen. "Will escort your   
friends to the nearest Sailoon magistrate."  
"You expect us to leave the princess unguarded in the hands of   
these...strangers."  
"They're not strangers!" Amethyst protested. "That's my par...my   
mother's friend, and I know my she would never have trusted anybody that   
would betray her or her daughter."  
"I'm not comfortable with this, your father gave specific commands...."  
"Listen you!" Lina snapped striding forward and leaning up on her feet to   
poke her finger at the outspoken guardsman. "You're supposed to protect   
Amethyst, right?"  
"The PRINCESS Amethyst yes..."  
"So you want them," she jabbed a clawed finger at the unconscious   
assassins. "Travelling anywhere NEAR her? I sure don't want them travelling   
around MY son." Xalan thought about protesting the implication this had for   
his abilities, but decided against it.  
"I see your point," he admitted.  
"Good, because I was about to hurt you."  
"errr." He sweat dropped.  
"Couldn't Filia get us there faster?" Xalan asked.  
"Me and Filia are going to have a talk about that son of hers," Lina   
grumbled. "Then we're going to wait in case Xina and Val show up back here."   
Something glittered behind Lina's eyes, and suddenly Xalan felt very sorry   
for his sister.  
"So you just want us to turn around and leave again?" Amethyst sounded   
dismayed.  
"Xina is flying dragon back, and you...should talk to your father."   
Amethyst nodded quietly. "Okay now that's decided I guess we   
should...hey!!!" they had turned around to find the deer that Xalan had   
carried to the camp was gone. Jolrael licked the remainder of the juices off   
his lips and sighed contentedly.  
"Oh, I'm sorry, did you want some?" he asked politely.  
"Wow, his appetite matches yours and Xina's," Xalan said, impressed. His   
mother fumed and gnashed her fangs for a few moments before opening her   
mouth, her ears laid totally back.  
"You you you...GABRIEV!!!"  
"What?"  
  
It was almost three days, or nights rather, that Val touched down beyond   
the reach of the city's line of site. Xina slid down his side and landed   
lightly on the ground. She raced quietly to the edge of the small rise and   
looked down on Sailoon, marvelling at the size of the city, even shrouded by   
darkness.  
"I could go with you if you hadn't 'lost' my clothes yesterday," Val   
complained.  
"I said I was sorry," she returned cheerfully. "I fell asleep, okay."  
"Right, just....go see the tomb and get back here," he admonished.   
"We're in plenty of trouble as it is."  
"Oh, don't be such a wimp, they'll never know I was here, and I can deal   
with mom."  
"You don't get both of them jumping on you," the dragon muttered quietly.   
Which was amazing considering his bulk. Xina stuck her tongue out at him   
and giggled, obviously not concerned with the parental consequences.  
"I'll be right back," she started running toward town. She ran at a   
blur, slowing down only as she came to more populated areas and had to start   
slipping from shadow to shadow in order to remain unseen. This was easy if   
annoying, and it still left finding the Tomb.  
Xina knew from the few times she had convinced her mom to talk about her   
dad's death that Tomb of Heros was past some huge building called a   
cathedral. Still, she had been raised in a cave. I well-furnished, rather   
large cave, but a cave nonetheless. Most of the buildings toward the center   
of the town looked huge to her. They were like man-made hills, and she made   
use of their heights to further improve her efforts at stealth.  
It didn't take her long to find the palace, it was the biggest building   
of all. A mountain of metal, wood and brick with a host of soldiers   
patrolling the walls. Even in the dark it was impressive, and Xina stood a   
moment before its walls, staring in awe. As her mind began to clear the   
kage-kitsune felt a tug in her mind. Suddenly she was certain of where she   
was going, and she began to quietly scale the wall.  
The guards were good, if you were expecting an army to be approaching,   
but they didn't seem to be paying much attention to the walls right in front   
of their posts. At least they weren't paying attention as she considered it.   
There weren't many deep shadows along the wall, but still they didn't notice   
her, Xalan and mom would have picked her up minutes ago.  
Xina overtopped the wall and leaped down off of it before the two guards   
could turn to face where she crossed. Lina's daughter landed quietly on the   
ground beneath the high wall, and backed into the wall's shadow becoming   
undetectable. Then she just followed that tug in her mind.  
Xina slipped from shadow to shadow, staring up in wonder at the high   
ceilings of the Tomb's cathedral. This is where her father's funeral had   
been held. Her mom had told her that she and Xalan had been there, but she   
couldn't remember anything about it, unless that was what had led her here.   
Some vague half-formed memory of the days immediately after her birth. Some   
instinct telling her that this is where her father was, she didn't care.  
She noted, irritably, the sound of her foot falls echoing lightly through   
the still dark halls as she passed the great cathedral. The Tombs' ceiling   
was much lower though that was still higher than her home, and the echoes   
still carried further than she expected or liked. What really shocked her   
were the rows upon rows of tombs, and now, in the edifice itself, that tug on   
her mind had vanished.  
Xina was growing dismayed until she saw it, nestled near the royal tombs.   
A sheet of solid, gleaming black among all the white. The discovery of what   
had to be her father's tomb made her freeze in place for a moment. As she   
stopped moving, Xina almost thought she heard an off pace echo somewhere else   
in the Tombs, but she dismissed it. She was at the grave marker in an   
instant and reaching out...  
Don't touch!  
She jerked her hand back and looked about nervously. There was no one,   
she couldn't even smell anybody. Though the stale air wouldn't carry a scent   
far anyway. After a moment she reached out again.  
Don't touch it!  
"But this is my father's tomb," she protested, feeling silly about it.   
She reached outward again.  
Don't touch it, child!  
"Be quiet!" she snapped, getting gritting her teeth in a stubborn   
grimace. "This is what I came here for!" she brushed her fingers against   
the black stone reverentially, if irritably.   
There was a flash of blue light as one of the priest's wards was   
triggered. A wave electricity reached out and surrounded her. Xina   
swallowed and closed her eyes, waiting for the shock to come. It didn't, the   
energy gathered in the armor she was wearing and dissipated harmlessly into a   
light show.  
"Is that all you were warning me about?" she laughed at the unnamed   
voice. "That wasn't any..." she leaned against the stone, and barely caught   
the sudden glow from the numerous wards she had just triggered. Her eyes   
widened just before she was thrown back against a wall by a blast of mixed   
fire, force and assorted magics. She noticed a shadowy figure near the   
entrance before she full back unconscious.  
  
Zangulus saw the girl fly back away from the warded tomb and frowned.   
The priests would be alerted now, as would Zelgadis. He didn't have much   
time, he drew out the black blade and slashed through the dark stone, bracing   
himself for a magical discharge. Apparently the girl had triggered them all   
onto herself, and he did not know about the power that had repelled Martina   
before. As such he could not wonder at its lack now.  
The bounty hunter looked in past the shattered stone and saw the mazoku's   
corpse, well skeleton. The black blade crackled as it passed near the dried   
bones of Xellos's human body. They were indeed charged with power. He   
opened a bag and started scooping the bones into it. He considered the metal   
staff and then let it clatter to the ground. Martina hadn't asked for the   
staff, she wanted the body.  
Zangulus turned to leave when something occured to him. That girl had   
been here for Xellos's tomb. He walked over to look at her prone form and   
noted the purple hair and purple-furred tail. The bounty hunter had heard   
that a beast-woman of some sort had attended the mazoku's funeral. People   
like him tended to file such information away. This girl might be related to   
the fallen demon, his daughter perhaps.  
He set down the bag and turned his raised up his sword and prepared to   
let it fall. Then he hesitated, he was about to kill a defenseless girl.   
"This isn't right," his arms lowered for a moment, his expression   
confused. Then his eyes flickered and hardened. She was half-mazoku, she   
was related to the mazoku who's tomb he was defiling. This girl would be   
trouble, the sword came up again.   
  
  
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	9. Battle in the Tomb

  
Slayers Born  
  
  
  
Battle in the Tomb  
  
  
  
_Wake up, Xina! _The voice had a sense of urgency to it._  
_Xina didn't want to wake up. Mom let her sleep in most of the time, why did she have to wake up.  
_You have to wake up now!_  
It had to be Xalan, her brother always seemed to like getting up early. She wrinkled her nose in annoyance. Couldn't he tell she wanted to sleep, why did he always have to cut in on her rest and fun.  
_Xina! WAKE! UP!!!_  
That wasn't Xalan. Xalan didn't yell like that, she was the one that yelled. Her and mom anyway. Xina's eyes popped open and she saw the sword hanging over her. She panickly let the darkness grow around her, encompassing them both, and rolled away from the strange swordman. The man's blade scraped along her back, cutting and burning. She cried out in pain, but could already tell that it wasn't bad, not on its own. The fact that her body was still recovering from that magical assault made this something more than an annoyance.  
Xina shifted around in the darkness and quieted down, watching the the sword man. Darkness didn't bother her at all, didn't impede her vision. Unfortunately it didn't appear to matter too much to the sword man either.  
"I can't see you, but there are other ways to target a person," he said. His sword swung out, and she only barely dodged. Its metal fading against her darkness.  
"That was good, but you won't be able to dodge forever," he nodded before swiping his blade low across the floor. Xina leaped, looking as the blade passed under her. She failed to notice the man's other hand reaching out to grab her, gaining a firm grip on her arm.  
"You haven't been doing this long, have you?" he asked.  
"Let go of me!"  
"And let you track me down later?" he asked. "I don't think so, you're too much a potential threat." He reared back his sword. Xina ducked her head and sank sharp teeth into his wrist. His hand spasmed and she was free again, Xina cast a glance across the room and saw a staff. It was outside her darkness, but that wasn't helping her much anyway.  
An outside observer would have said that she was moving with amazing grace and speed, but Xina felt slow. She rolled to the ground and snatched up the staff, finally noticing the cracked and empty tomb, as well as the bag that stood a little ways to the side. She narrowed her eyes and raised the staff determinedly.  
The man strolled cautiously out of the darkness.  
"That's my father," she snarled.  
"I thought so." Xina prepared to pounce, feeling steady even with the injuries she already had.  
_Stay.  
_Xina blinked and hesitated. The swordsman charged forward, Xina lifted the staff in defensively, preparing to dodge. What she needed desperately was a wall between her and this man. She screamed as he closed and lifted the staff to block the down coming strike. The staff and sword never met, as Zangulus strike met a transparent wall of force hanging in space before the kage-kitsune.  
"What is this?" He smashed the shield again and Xina winced as if she He noted the reaction and smiled. "This won't last you long, girl."  
_Hold it.  
_"I can't!" She could half hear the sound of running footsteps, but whatever she was doing, it was tiring. The black sword struck her shield again and this time cracks appeared.  
_Not much longer._  
__"I can't hold it!" the patch of darkness dissipated. It was usually a very easy thing to hold, and that was the surest sign that she was fading. The swordsman swung down again and the shield shattered, showering Xina in the fast fading remnants of its existence. She slammed against the wall, the cut on her back scraping against the edge of her father's cracked tomb. Xina cried out in pain and collapsed to the floor, laying on her stomach and breathing hard._  
_The swordsman reared his sword back and then he also noticed the rushing foot steps. He turned, recognized the owner and dropped his blade in different manner. Xina yelped in pain, but thankfully passed out moments later.  
"FLARE ARROW!!" He was forced to dodge the spell as the source of the footsteps appeared. "Zangulus?" The bounty hunter snatched up his bag and circled around the chimera.  
"I don't have time for these games," he responded. Zelgadis looked over to where Xina lay unconcious and arched an eyebrow, of course she was easy to recognize.  
"You have time to beat up on an inexperienced child though," he noted coldly, drawing his own sword. Neither of the two noticed a slender form reach down and slip the metal staff from Xina's hands and then slip back away from the destroyed tomb.  
"She's no less a child than we were," the bounty hunter noted. "But I seriously must go."  
"I don't think Martina is going to get what ever she sent you for," Zelgadis promised him.  
"Well you can either fight me or you can help that girl," he pointed to Xina, where Zelgadis could see the start of a growing blood pool. "This blade can kill full-mazoku, I'm sure it would work for her." Zelgadis snarled. "Perhaps we'll see you all very soon." The chimera lowered his sword and let the bounty hunter leave. When he was certain that they were both safe he turned to see to Xina.  
"Can you hear me?" he asked. "Open your eyes if you can?" There was no reaction. He couldn't be sure, but he thought that meant that she wasn't very badly hurt yet. Lina and Xellos became hyper alert whenever they neared death. Still Xina wasn't a full mazoku, and she wasn't a were-creature, Zelgadis had no idea what was a good sign. These thoughts would happen later, right now he didn't have the time to worry about it.  
Xina didn't wake up as he healed her, but slept on. He had almost finished when the lesser casters and guards finally appeared. He turned to glare at them, they had been slow. There was no excuse for it, the wards had apparently made them lax.  
"There is a swordsman, wide-brimmed hat, graying hair," Zelgadis instructed them. "Find him and bring him here."  
"What about her?" one of the guards asked.  
"Take her up to one of the guest rooms," Zelgadis commanded. "And be gentle."  
"Yes, my lord," the guardsman bowed and strode forward to follow the command.  
"They took the body and the staff," Zelgadis grumbled. "There's no telling what they're going to do with it."  
  
_Now, you can sleep._ The voice had lost its sense of urgency, but it was fading now.  
"Is he going to kill me?"  
_He's gone..._ The voice answered, sounding further away again.  
"Did you make that wall?"  
...._You did....  
_"Who are you?"  
_....Sore wa himitsu desu...._the voice then faded completely away with an implied smile.  
Xina felt a urge to follow, but that seemed to be a bad idea. Instead she just let herself fall away from whereever it was she had found herself, and then let a thick, dreamless sleep pass over her.   
  
  
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	10. Awakenings

  
Slayers Born  
  
  
  
Awakenings  
  
  
  
Xalan snapped awake and stood up looking down their intended path. His back and side burned with slightly, as if he he'd been cut. He stretched and found that his joints were stiff and sore beyond what he would expect upon waking up as well. The feeling faded fast, but that didn't help him.  
"Something wrong?" He looked over at the swordsman, it wasn't really a question.  
"How much faster can you travel," he asked.  
"Oh can cover at least twice the distance we have been covering each day." Xalan face faulted. There was a muffled "ouch" as he fell, but he missed it in his surprise.  
"Why didn't you mention this before," he asked.  
"You can match that pace?" he asked surprised.  
"Ano..." Xalan blinked and looked down to see Amethyst. "What are you doing?" Xalan blushed furiously and backpedaled quickly off the chimera.  
"I'm uh sorry...I didn't uh mean to..." he stammered. "Umm how much faster can you travel?"  
"Brilliant save," Jol noted with arched eyebrow.  
"Uh I don't know, I'm pretty fast," she muttered, obviously glad for even the hastily made subject change.  
"Well what's a comfortable pace for..." there was a blur and Amethyst was suddenly standing about twenty yards away. "....you?" Jol and Xal blinked.  
"Is that a good pace?" she asked as when she blurred back.  
"err...yeah," Xal answered. "Why have we been traveling so slow then?"  
"We could have been travelling faster?"  
"I suppose you believe that your sister is in trouble," Jol noted. Xalan nodded.  
"Something hurt her," he answered, looking toward Sailoon.  
  
Val clicked his claws together nervously, it was nearing dawn and Xina hadn't come back yet. Soon Val was going to have to back away from the town or be discovered. He certainly couldn't take human form without any clothes.  
"What's taking her so long?" he wondered.  
  
"Hmm, so this is Xellos's staff," the thief master looked over it with a sort of bored curiousity. "All in all it isn't quite what I expected."  
"But you'll pay me for it, won't you?"  
"Oh certainly I'll pay you," he said. "This gem alone is worth a fortune." The palace worker was aghast.  
"You're going to remove the gem from the staff?"  
"Of course," he sounded surprised. "They'll track it down quite easily if it is still in its original form. We can't have that."  
"If its all the same to you," the worked swallowed hard. "I'd just like to get my money and leave."  
"Certainly," he gestured and one of his lieutenants nodded. "Donneson, please show our friend to the vault." The dark clothed man nodded obeidantly.  
"Fall-oh me, ser."   
"And you don't have to worry about me talking, I can keep my mouth shut." They disappeared somewhere into the further depths of the thieves guild.  
"I'm certainly not worried about you talking to anybody," the thief master chuckled to himself. There was a strangled cry from where the two had disappeared then Donneson returned. "Now who would be interested in this little praise?"   
He pried at the gem stone with a dagger grinning. The grin vanished after the gem refused to budge from its setting. In fact he failed to even scratch the surface of either object. The thief master stuck his dagger into the fork and used it as a lever, succeeding only in snapping his own blade.  
"Damn piece of crap!" he shouted and tossed the staff across his underground throne room. "We'll have to find a way to smuggle it out of here." The staff lay where he had tossed it, the red gem seeming to laugh at him.  
  
Xina was first conscious of the incredibly soft and comfortable bed she was laying in. The thick and warm blanket over her was next. She was very comfortable, for a moment she considered just letting herself fall back asleep and curl up in the soft bed and blankets. Then she remembered the last time she had been "asleep" and snapped awake.  
"Where am I?" she asked no one in particular. She rose up and stretched, grimacing at the left over pain. Still there was not nearly the amount of pain there should have been. She had healed, and unlike her mother, that should have taken a while. "How long have I been asleep?"  
She glanced around the room and saw that nobody was in it with here, she was relatively safe. Some one must have interrupted that maniac before he could finish her off. Someone must have found her, maybe healed her. She glanced at the tunic and breeches on the desk across the room, and then at her burnt and torn doeskins. They were even tailored for to allow for her tail. The breeches were a shimmering black, and the tunic was a red almost dark enough to be black, also a shimmering material. Xina assumed it was silk, but she had never seen silk before so she wasn't certain.  
"Hey, are you still there?" but no voice answered back. "I guess I'm on my own then." She started as someone knocked on the thick wooden door that was the only apparent entrance to the room. She watched the door anxiously waiting for an attack, and wishing she had paid more attention to her mother and brother's attempts to teach her something about defending herself.  
"Do you need anything, miss," the voice on the other side of the door asked.  
"Umm, not really," she answered, confused. "How long have I been asleep?"  
"The Regent-Prince healed you last night," the unseen guard answered. "I think you've been here for almost half a day now." Xina winced, Val would be getting more than annoyed by now. She sighed and picked up the breeches, might as well put them on. Her own clothes were more or less finished with.  
"Okay, uh thanks," she called back.  
"The Regent-Prince wanted to speak to you when you woke up," the guard said. "Whenever you're ready."  
"Zelgadis Greywyrds?" she asked suspiciously.  
"Of course." She growled irritably.  
"I suppose that I should talk to him," she slipped off her ruined tunic and slipped on the one that had been provided her. "He DID save my life. But I'm NOT staying!"  
"Are you ready then?" he asked. Xina looked down at her mocassins and grimaced at the way they appeared when next to the fine clothes. She looked about to see if they had provided any other clothes, but couldn't see any.  
"Alright, let's get this over with," she grumbled stretching out the remaining kinks in her joints. Then she opened the door and looked up at her guard, tail swishing irritably. She had to look pretty far up and this didn't put her in a much better mood.  
"Its right this way," the man said, leading Xina along. Soon the man opened a door and moved out of her way. Xina growled quietly as she walked into the room and saw the second chimera of her life.  
Zelgadis stood with his back to her in the great study. Whether the turned back was a sign of trust or contempt, Xina couldn't tell. He smelled of parchment, steel and dry stone, mixed in was an older smell, faded. That was the smell of blood, sweat and fear. Later Xina would recognize it as the smell of battle. Beyond the man's scent, his mood seemed to fill the room. Her own irritation faded in the presence of his bone-deep regret.  
"I believe your name is Xina" he said without turning around.   
  
  
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	11. Protective Custody

  
Slayers Born  
  
  
  
Protective Custody  
  
  
  
"And just how did you know that?" she demanded. Zelgadis turned around and laughed once. "What's so funny, stone-man?"  
"You remind me of your mother," he admitted. "I assume Amethyst found where ever it is you three are living. If not, this is an incredible coincidence."  
"Yeah, yeah, she found us," Xina grumbled. "Did you catch that bandit?"  
"Zangulus escaped."  
"He got away!" she restrained herself from leaping forward, her attacker had run from this man. "Did you hate my father that much?"  
"Don't presume," he reproached and Xina flinched. This man was like her mom, she had the same huge presence. Xina had grown up with that, that forest was filled with it. She had never thought to meet some one else like that though. She had a sense that if the castle didn't have its own presence that his would be just easily felt as her mother's.  
"You let him die," she noted defiantly. "Didn't you?" Zelgadis ignored the question.  
"I had a choice," Zelgadis said.  
"Hmph, what choice was that?" If she could face her mother, she could face this jerk. Zelgadis turned fully around to face her.  
"Xellos's staff and bones," he said, lifting one hand. "His and Lina's daughter." He lifted the other and arched an eyebrow. "Would you rather I made the other choice?"  
"Thanks," she said begrudgingly. "and thanks for the clothes, but I'm gone." She turned around to walk out the door.  
"Sit. Down." Zelgadis didn't yell like her mom, but the tone was basically the same. Xina stopped and sullenly sat down in a chair she was passing. "I let your father 'sore wa himitsu desu' himself to death, I'm not going to let..."  
"What did you say?" she snapped.  
"I'm not going to let you get yourself killed..."  
"No, the other thing, sore wa himitsu desu." Zelgadis looked at her curiously.  
"Your mother never told you about that?"  
"What about it?"  
"It was your father's standard response to any question," he answered. Xina snapped to her feet and turned back to the door. "Stop."  
"He can beat me, but can he beat a dragon?" she snapped.  
"Val's here too," he laughed. "Are you intent on bringing Lina AND Filia down on me?"  
"Its not FUNNY!" she shouted. She rounded on him and reached up to his face with her nails. Zelgadis caught her by the wrists easily and held her away, she kicked at his legs. Xina couldn't reach anything to bite either, so she was just basically just flailing about ineffectually.  
"Do you need help my lord?" Zelgadis shook his head at the guard. "Are you sure." Zelgadis leveled a glare at the guard and the man swallowed before walking out. "As you wish."  
"Let go of me!" she shouted. "He has my father!"  
"Your father's dead, you're alive." He pushed her away gently, letting go of her hands. Xina rubbed her wrists but didn't try anything further.  
"I HEARD him. While I was fighting that bastard, I HEARD him."  
"Heard who?"  
"Sore wa himitsu desu! Who do you think?" Zelgadis was silent for a long moment while Xina sat back down and sulked.  
"I see," Zelgadis said. "This is an interesting developement." He fixed her with a glare. "But you are still waiting for your family to get here. I suppose Lina is already on her way here."  
"I'll bet she's bringing a herring," Xina grumbled.  
"What?"  
  
Val was on the verge of flying back away home and facing his mother. Of course he'd have to avoid Lina. Lina didn't really like him much any way, if he came back saying that he lost her daughter. Well, he didn't want to face her with that information.  
"Is there a Val Garv out here?" the dragon twisted his head about to peak through a gap in the trees. There was a human there, a herald or messenger of some sort. "I'm bring word from Xina Metallium."  
"I'm here," Val said. In dragon form pretty much everything he said would sound angry and hostile to a human. This herald was apparently no exception, he swallowed hard at the sound of the booming voice. "Where is she?"  
"She is in the palace a guest of the Regent-Prince Zelgadis Greywyrds."  
"Guest or prisoner?"  
"Guest, the Regent-Prince was hoping you'd take word back to her family. Though I don't know how you could take the message better than a trained herald."  
"Can you fly?"  
"No."  
"They didn't tell you what I was, did they?"  
"No, umm there is one more thing," the sound of groaning wood had accompanied Val's preparations to take flight, but they paused as the herald spoke again. "He wishes the girl's mother to know that Martina has been here, and that Zangulus has stolen Xellos Metallium's body and staff." The names were vaguely familiar, but he assumed his mother and Lina would know them better.  
"Just get out of the damn way," before the herald could respond he leaped out of his cover into the air with spread wings. The poor man was too busy dodging a falling tree to properly register the dragon, all he knew was that whatever he had been talking to was big.  
Val winged back with no hesistation, at least he knew where Xina was. In another three days he could tell Lina that Xina was in Sailoon. Less, actually, he wouldn't take any breaks on this trip, they probably already furious with him and Xina. This was better than he'd lost her, not much better, but better. He thought about trying to go to the palace and get Xina away from there, but something told him that might have been a bad idea.  
Sometime on the second day, more than half-way home, he passed three people moving quickly below. He recognized one of them and blinked. The dragon tucked his wings and swooped down towards them.  
"L-Sama, its a dragon!!" one of them, a female smelling of ivory and steel, shouted. She started to raise her hands and gather power.  
"Amethyst, wait," Xalan shouted. "That's a friend, sort of." Xalan didn't know all the history his mother did, but he shared her hesitance over Xina's friendship with the dragon.  
"You know a dragon?" the third humanoid asked as the dragon settled.  
"Two," he sniffed and looked about, eyes narrowed. "Where's Xina, Val?"  
"Sailoon palace," the dragon rumbled. "I was on my way to tell Lina."  
"More like tell your mother, and ask her to tell Lina, care to hold off and give us a lift back to Sailoon."  
"I'm not a beast of burden," Val protested.  
"Something hurt my sister," he noted. "I felt it." The dragon lookrf at him.  
"The herald didn't mention that," Val growled.  
"Excuse me, Val-san," the dragon appraised the chimera curiously. "Please could you take us to my home, it would be a great honor to be escorted by such a wonderous being as you." Xal and Jol watched as the young dragon preened under the flattery.  
"Of course I'll be your escort, at least somebody gives me the respect I deserve." Xalan looked at Amethyst for a moment.  
"If you and Xina ever pool talents..."  
"What?" Amethyst asked unaware of what she had done.  
"Sounds like we're in for a real adventure now," Jol smiled.   
  
  
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	12. Homecoming

  
Slayers Born  
  
  
  
Homecoming  
  
  
  
"Oh goody!" Zangulus turned to look at where his lady love had just suddenly appeared. He marveled at the child-like and innocent sound of her voice. "You brought him to me."  
"We can be together now?" he asked desperately. Martina turned to look at him and traced a finger down his jawline.  
"We are together my love," she said sweetly. "But before I make you as eternal as our love, I have to be sure what I need is here. I might still need a mortal to help me."   
She reached for the bag gingerly, and when no black light assaulted her she set about greedily digging through the bones of the fallen mazoku. Like the mazoku on Wolf Pack Island, Xellos's power had not dissipated immediately after his death. Instead it soldified, appearing as a normal body, and decayed as a normal body. She snatched each bone and drew the power it contained within her, causing the bone itself to crumble into dust. Zangulus noted with concern as her expression darkened with each shattered bone.  
"It has to be here!" she screeched. "It has to be." Finally she drew out the grinning skull. Watching it collapse into dust taking that damn endless smile with it did her mood no good. The key was Xellos's essence, the power his departed spirit left behind, and yet his body was no different than the bodies of all the other mazoku she had dredged up and absorbed.  
"There was a staff," Zangulus noted. Martina whirled on him.  
"His staff! His staff was intact!" Martina screeched furiously. "Why didn't you bring that to me?" she restrained herself from actually attacking him, but was on the edge.  
"Zelgadis showed up," Zangulus explained to her. "I took the body and ran, since that is what you sent me for. Xellos's daughter has it."  
"Xellos had a daughter?" Martina asked curiously.  
"That is what the girl claimed."  
"Could you describe her too me, dear?" Martina asked sweetly.  
"Purple hair and tail, fox ears," Martina howled and slammed her fist into a tree, knocking it down.  
"The bastard and the bitch had a little brat!" Martina whispered viciously to herself. Then she faced Zangulus with a sweet expression on her face. "Get the staff from her, my love. The staff has what I need. Do that and then we can be together, forever."  
"As you wish, Martina," he bowed over her hand as she smiled over him.  
  
"This is the staff?" the sorcerer asked.  
"Xellos Metallium's staff," the thief assured him, eyeing the staff anxiously. "It will prove itself."  
"If this is a scam, you will pay," the sorcerer assured him. Somehow he was certain that it wasn't a scam, the man was too eager to be rid of the staff.  
"This is no scam," the thief assured him. "Now can I have the payment?" The sorcerer handed over the bag of platinum unconcerned. There were spells on the coins that he could trigger at any time if the product still proved to be a fake. The sorcerer didn't no for certain what he could do with the staff, but an item with such a master must be great indeed.  
The mage stepped up into his carriage and commanded the magical construct to carry him down the alley. Soon he would be far away from this distasteful city. There was a startled rustle among the crowds, mixed awe and terror. The sorcerer looked out and his jaw dropped as he saw a dragon winging down for a landing beyond the city walls.  
  
"I know your faster than that," Zelgadis admonished, lifting his practice blade away from her neck.  
"Why are you making me do this?" Xina asked leaning over her practice sword.  
"Haven't had a sparring partner since Amethyst went travelling," Zelgadis answered. "Now come again."  
"Can't you teach me how to use something else?"  
"Not as well as I can teach you this, now come again." She stood up and gritted her teeth.   
Xina snapped forward with stab, which he blocked, she let the sword bounce away from the block and added power to the back spin as she slashed around with blinding speed coming in the other direction. He blocked again, and Xina pushed forward with her shoulders in a body block. The girl bounced off Zelgadis and landed on the ground.  
"Damn it," Xina growled as she stood back up again, Zelgadis had never helped her up in any of these practice sessions.  
"At least you managed the spin this time," he commented. "But you shouldn't try to shove someone stronger than you unless they are far off balance. Come again."  
"Just give me a moment," she asked, panting and leaning on her sword again. Zelgadis's eyebrow arched and his stance lowered. It was what she had been waiting for. Xina whipped forward with her blade a triumphant grin on her face, until the sword flew from numbed fingers and landed a few feet away.  
"I'm not human," he reminded her. "I won't fall for the false fatigue trick from a half-mazoku." A herald appeared in the sparring room, breathing heavily, Zelgadis saw hm and walked away from the dueling area. "Not much of a spar."  
"Sir a..a...a...dra..dra..."  
"A dragon?" Xina asked excited. Zelgadis turned to face her.  
"Yes, its a dragon," the herald gasped. "Landing, beyond the walls."  
"You said it took you three days to get here?" Zelgadis asked Xina.  
"Yes," she answered grumpily. Zelgadis turned back to the herald and arched an eyebrow.  
"That is all I know, Lord." Moments later another herald appeared.  
"Lord, your daughter, she's back."  
"Amethyst? Who's with her?"  
"How did you...of course you know. I think its her brother and some swordsman dressed in an elven manner."  
"Her guards?"  
"No sign, Lord," Zelgadis nodded.  
"Send out an escort," he instructed, the man nodded and started to leave. "An HONOR guard, these are not enemies. The dragon as well."  
"Umm," they looked at Xina. "You might want to bring Val some clothes, I sort of lost his on the way here."  
"Very well," Zelgadis sighed. "Is this all understood?"  
"Yes, my lord," heralds bowed and left at a near run.  
"You lost his clothes?" he asked. Xina made a non-commital sound and looked about nervously. "Isn't that a little obvious?"  
"The stupider the story the more they....hey!" Zelgadis smirked  
It wasn't much longer before Amethyst stood again before her father. Xina watched in amazement as the man actually displayed some emotion and hugged his daughter.  
"Dad?" Zelgadis released her and stood back nervous. "Why didn't you tell me about mom?" Zelgadis frowned and turned his face away from her.   
  
  
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	13. Dreams

  
Slayers Born  
  
  
  
Dreams  
  
  
  
"I understand that Lina's son is with you as well," Zelgadis said, changing the subject. "I'm fairly certain he wants to see his sister." The elder chimera glanced at Xina who, rolled her eyes up to a corner of the room and bit her lip. "Even if she is reluctant on the issue."  
"Oh Xina-san," Amethyst gasped in surprise, "I didn't recognize you there." Zelgadis and Xina sweatdropped. "Xalan-san thought you were hurt, he's really anxious to see you." The younger chimera nodded her head vigorously.  
"I'd like to meet Xina's son as well," Zelgadis suggested, obviously thinking to stall this discussion with his daughter.  
"We need the talk about mother," Amethyst protested, she turned to Xina. "Xalan-san is waiting outside, Xina-san." Xina glanced from Zelgadis to the door, the elder chimera. She smiled viciously and waved at Zelgadis.  
"Shouldn't keep my brother waiting after all," she said cheerfully, in the vulpine accent common to her family. She greatly ennjoyed the annoyed glare that the Regent-Prince was leveling her way. Then she turned her face away from the two chimeras and grimaced. Seeing Zelgadis squirm was pleasurable enough to face her brother, but it only just outweighed the chance to avoid him for a little while.  
"Lina figured it out," he deduced after the fox-girl left the room.  
"Yes, but..."  
"This was none of her affair," Zelgadis said quietly.  
"She didn't tell me," Amethyst protested. Zelgadis arched an eyebrow at her. "It was the guardsman that tried to kill me that told me."  
"One of your guards tried to kill you," he repeated dangerously.  
"Yes, Lina-sama told the rest of them to take him and those bandits to the nearest Sailoon magistrate," she paused. "The ones that lived anyway, but, that's not the point. Why didn't you tell me?"  
"What point would there be?"  
"But you lied to me, how can that be just?" Zelgadis snorted. "Doesn't justice require the truth?"  
"What justice would there be in making some little girl think she killed her mother?"  
"But I did..."  
"No you did not!" Zelgadis shouted. "Understand that, you didn't do anything."  
"But if I were human..." she let the supposition trail away to silence, and then began to walk out of the room.  
"Ame, it's not your fault," she looked back at him before leaving the room completely.  
  
Of all the responses Xina was prepared for, relief and joy were not one of them. Val, and a tall dark haired swordsman somewhere around Amethyst's age, sat back and watched. The swordsman seemed bored.  
"Xina!" her cried out as he hugged her much smaller form. "I thought you were hurt, or..."  
"I'm fine! I'm fine! But you're going to crack my ribs!" he released her.   
"I don't understand it, but I'm glad you're not..." She looked at him embarrassed. "You were hurt."  
"I let someone steal...father," she said, clutching her side where she remembered the sword plunging in. "I'd be dead if it weren't for Zelgadis." She sounded quite unlike her normal cheerful self.  
"I know you did your best, we can hunt down the bastard later," he told her.  
"And I shall help you in this quest," Xalan turned to face the reappeared Amethyst. The young chimera had either put everything behind her, or buried it. Whichever way it was, she did not at seem unhappy at all.  
"Me, Xal and Val are perfectly..."  
"You will," Xina turned to look at her brother, who hadn't even noticed that he'd cut her off.  
"Sounds fun," Jol shrugged.  
"Who are you?"  
"I'm Jol."  
"Err...Okay."  
"I suppose that," Val started, Xina turned to face him, already putting her pleading look on. Val gave up before she started talking. "Go tell our parents what's going on before joining you."  
"You'd do that for us?" Xina leaned uncomfortably close to the dragon, laughter sparkling in her eyes. Val glanced nervously from the teasing kage-kitsune to her brother's annoyed look.  
"I might as well get started now, its faster this way," he grumbled, turning to walk back down the hall. There was a whispered stream of profanity that he wouldn't have dared speak near his mother, and scattered among it was the phrase "three bloody times."  
"I was going to suggest that myself," Zelgadis said, appearing behind them. "But first, you are going to get some rest, and I am going to see about outfitting you properly."  
"I'd really rather get this over..." Zelgadis leveled a look at Xalan and he shut up. Amethyst and Xina shared a smug expression, until Xina noticed and then she hmphed.  
"That was impressive," Jol noted. Zelgadis turned to face him.  
"Who are..."  
"Jolrael Gabriev." Zelgadis narrowed his eyes, Jol didn't appear to notice.  
"As in..."  
"Gourry and Syphiel's son." The chimera arched an eyebrow, the swordsman yawned.  
"But you're not..."  
"Stupid?" Xina and Amethyst looked at Jol as if he were insane.  
"Would you..."  
"I'm not doing anything." Zelgadis took a moment to figure out if he was telling the truth or not.  
  
Xalan saw Xina in the darkness beyond, she was the first actual sight he had seen in this funny dream. Having nothing better to do he walked towards her. This didn't seem to be a dream, it felt more like what he felt when he was fighting. As he approached Xina saw him a waved dismissively.  
"Oh good, this dream was getting boring," Xina grumbled.  
"This is my dream," Xalan insisted.  
"Whatever, I'm not going to argue with a figment of my imagination."  
"You're the figment, not me."  
"You can't share dreams so..." The darkness faded away to show Zangulus stabbing down into Xina. Xalan looked to the other image of his sister and noticed her wince angrily.  
"What is this?" Zangulus and Zelgadis started circling each other, the chimera maneuvering the human away from his sister. The image faded away before the drama could come to a conclusion.  
  
Xina woke up from the strange dream and growled. That man had beaten her soundly, without much of an effort. It had been so easy for him that he even had time to mock her. She had never felt so humiliated as she had lying at his feet and waiting for that sword to fall. She clutched her side angrily.  
Why was she dreaming about that, what was the point? It was bad enough thinking about it without having to see it when she fell asleep. And she was dreaming about Xalan witnessing it to, as if it wasn't good enough that she was cowed in front of Zelgadis Greywyrds. She had to have her brother witness her on the ground half-conscious and near weeping from the pain in her back.  
She lay back down, on the other side, and considered the dream. There was something about it, something important. Then she snapped to sitting up again in the great soft bed.  
"The staff was still in my hand!"   
  
  
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	14. On the Road

  
Slayers Born  
  
  
  
On the Road  
  
  
  
Xina was back in the tomb within fifteen minutes, and walking tentatively through the marble hall slipping from shadow to shadow cautiously. If she were lucky the scent would still be here even after a week had passed. No air carried through the tomb, and rain never fell there. It was a stagnant collection of air that only moved at the insistence of a pair of lungs.  
She stepped tentatively out of the shadows in front of the shattered tomb and concentrated on collecting scents. The servants had cleaned the debris, but she could still smell a slight taint of blood and recoiled. She should have been thankful that these humans had no sense of smell to speak of, but she wished they had cleaned better anyway.   
The worst of it was that she could pick out her, Zelgadis and Zangulus's scents, but beyond that there were dozens of scents and she didn't know who they belonged to. This had done her no good at all.  
"This isn't fair," she grumbled. Xina picked up a new scent, he had to be right behind her if she could smell him at all.  
"Did you have a dream?" Xalan asked.  
"I remembered something," she shrugged non-commitally. He arched an eyebrow and bent down to sniff out the ground. "What do you think you're doing, it's just a jumble of scents."  
"Why does one of those scents go that way?" he asked, pointing deeper into the tombs. Xina glared at him. "Maybe if you ever actually hunted yourself, instead of just leaving everything to me and mom." She stuck her tongue out at him.  
"I hunt!!"  
"I wouldn't call what you do hunting."  
"Hmph!"  
  
It wasn't much longer before they traced the scent to a cubby hole filled with a number of things probably pillaged from the various tombs. They certainly smelled like it anyway. Of course the staff wasn't among those items.  
"Great, I'll bet its miles away by now."  
"It'll turn up," Xalan shrugged non-commitally. "Let's worry about this bounty hunter first."  
"No, we have to get the staff!" Xina snapped.  
"Why? I'll bet its full of power and it was our father's, but still...."  
"There was a voice," she continued hesitantly. Surprisingly it was actually more difficult to explain her theory to her brother than it was to Zelgadis. "While I was fighting, I think it was our father's voice."  
"If this is one of your tricks..." he warned.  
"Why would I lie about THAT?"  
"Okay, I'll buy it for now, so let's get Jol and Ame..."  
"You me and Val can handle this fine, now let's get..." she started walking back down the tomb until her brother grabbed her tail. "Ouch! Hey! What's the deal?"  
"Where, out curiousity, do we start?"  
"We just go to the uh..." and Xina exhausted her knowledge of urban crime and cities in general. "Oh kay, we'll get everybody else. Now will you let go of my tail?"  
  
Unsurprisingly, Amethyst didn't know much more about the underside of the city than Xina and Xalan did. Surprisngly enough Jolrael did.  
"Wait a minute, how can you know about this coming from an elven city? Aren't elves the embodiment of all that is joyful and good in nature and magic?" Jolrael regarded Amethyst blankly for a moment and then blinked.  
"As I was saying..."  
It took them a little more than a day to track down the thief could place them on the staff's trail. They were on the road not long afterwards, traveling near the pace of a sprinting horse.  
"So what are those things in the cloths there?" Xina asked Amethyst as Sailoon shrank behind them.  
"Oh, I almost forgot?" Amethyst flushed scarlet for a moment from the embarrassment and handed one of the cloth bundles to Xina. "My father wanted me to give those too you. I brought mine too, this time."  
"What are these?" Xina asked as she unwrapped the cloth. She grimaced when she finally unwrapped the items. A fine long sword and a heavy, dull practice blade.  
"Dad said to be your sparring partner!" Amethyst declared cheerfully. Xina heard her brother snicker. Jolrael glanced at the expressions of the two Kage-Kitsune and smirked.  
"Maybe I can join your spars every once in awhile," he suggested. Xina winced, and then Jol turned toward Xalan. "How about you?"  
"Oh, I never miss a chance to practice with my sister," he assured them.  
"Won't this be fun?" Xina managed to plaster a fake grin on her face and laughed with Amethyst.  
"Sure fun, why not?"  
  
"Zangulus? What was he doing there?"  
"He sort of robbed Xellos..."  
"He robbed my Xellos's grrave?!!"  
"What would that bounty hunter want from a dead mazoku?" Filia asked, only moderately calmer. Val knew he was in trouble.  
"How did he get in there anyway, aren't there guards?"  
"Well Xina tried to stop..."  
"What did he do to Xina?"  
"No she's fine, Zelgadis stopped...."  
"SHE'S WITH ZELGADIS!!?"  
"Last I heard they were going on the road to chase..."  
"WHAT?!?"  
"Shi--* Ouch!" he looked up to his irate mother. "Sorry, mo--*" and was dragged down to Lina's eye level. The human form dragon sweatdropped.  
"Where were YOU during all of this?"  
"Well I had to stay in dragon form because Xina lost my...." he noticed Lina looking over his new outfit and re-ran his last statement in his head. "Oh...shoot." he said as Lina's eyes widened.  
"What were you doing with my daughter that SHE had your clothes?" She shook him vigorously.  
"Lina, please unhand my son," Filia said. The were-fox looked in the dragon's direction and let go of Val testily. He breathed a sigh of relief and then winced as his mother's mace smashed into his head. "I thought I taught you better than that."  
"I didn't do anything! I didn't do anything!"  
"Listen, you deliquent dragon..."  
"I'd say its your daughter that's deliquent, no offense."  
"None taken," Lina said tightly. "But ANYWAY, you are coming with us back to Sailoon, got iit?"  
"Go BACK to..." the younger dragon fainted. Lina and Filia looked at each other confused.  
"Oh didn't think I hit him that hard!" Filia declared dismayed, trying to wake him up.  
"What was that about?" Lina wondered.   
  
  
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	15. Lunch Money

#  Part 15 

* * *

"Its the most disturbing thing I've ever seen," Amethyst said wide-eyed. 

"I thought I was prepared for this," Xalan added hesitantly. 

"They're merciless." 

"Don't make a move, maybe it'll end soon." 

"Its...inhuman!" 

"Well, we aren't human." 

"Yes, but this is...." 

"Monstrous?" 

"That too, but..." 

"Unbelievable?" 

"And will you two be having anything else?" They looked up to the waiter who had cautiously moved around the atrocity zone to reach them. Both took a glance at their companions around the piles of used dishes that no one had dared to collect. 

"More Coffee," Amethyst requested in shock. 

"Tea for me," Xalan added. 

"mah phhs mpff ff grmf, mmph bffr fan hf eeffng f ff heh bn!" 

"ah oo fr fah oo gif dmmph waph nfi?" Xalan and Amethyst sweatdropped. 

"Can you afford this?" 

"uh..." Xina looked into her purse and started counting out the money her father had supplied them with. By the time she had counted out the total, the check came. Amethyst and Xalan leaned over and read it, then they face faulted. 

* * *

"What do you mean we're out of money?" 

"I thought your father gave you plenty of gold." 

"Well, I took what I thought we might need," Amethyst said, embarrassed. She thought that she understood her father's parting smirk and shrug now. 

"I don't see where its a problem yet," Xalan said. "We can always just camp and hunt." He noted the expressions on the other three travelers faces and changed his mind. "I guess not, but what do we..." Xina and Xalan both started sniffing at the air. They gestured quietly and all four quietly followed the kage-kitsune. 

"...we do with her?" 

"Oh I can think of a few things," a lewd voice answered. 

"Don't even think about it, we're supposed to find out where she's from first." 

"Oh why bother we can just sell her some where." 

"Why can't let them do this!" Amethyst shouted. 

"Hey, wait we don't want to..." Xal sputtered as the princess walked out to face the bandits. "Let them know we're here first." 

"You knew that was coming," Jol said. They walked out for the end of Amethyst's short fight with the two bandits. 

"Well that takes care of that!" Amethyst declared smuggly. Jol looked down at the two bandits. 

"You know it would be nice to know who they were talking about," he noted. Amethyst winced. 

"Or how many of them there are," Xal added. "Of course now we have to wait for them to wake up." 

"Err...sorry," Amethyst swallowed. "I can heal them!" 

"Where's your sister?" Xalan and Amethyst paused to look around. 

"Oh....joy," Xalan said. 

* * *

"So you're telling me that there is a princess of Sailoon here in the forest," the bandit leader said. 

"That's what I said." 

"And you'll take me to her if I give you my prisoner?" 

"Uh huh," Xina nodded vigorously. 

"What's the prisoner to you?" 

"This just sounds like a fun idea," the bandit sweat dropped. 

"What stops me from just taking you prisoner right now? I'm sure you'd fetch a nice price." 

"Oh you wouldn't want to do that," Xina promised waggling a finger. 

"And why not?" Xina's eyes widened momentarily and then she smiled. 

"Sore wa himitsu desu," she said with a hint of veiled menace. The much larger bandit swallowed. 

"Okay boy, you have a deal," Xina face faulted. 

"WHO ARE YOU CALLING A BOY?!?" 

"You're....not?" the bandit asked sweatdropping. 

"No, I'm a girl!" Xina was thinking. "Must. Not. Kill. Yet." 

"Err...sorry." 

* * *

"Interesting rock formations here, did you carve them or were they already in the cave?" 

"Lady, you're a prisoner." 

"Time enough for that later, what about these rock formations?" 

"Listen we kidnapped you." 

"This stalagmite actually looks like a dragon!" 

"We're probably going to sell you on the open market." 

"If this is natural it is the most amazing thing I have ever seen." 

"Don't you understand any of this?" 

"What part of Beleriand are we in?" 

"ARRGG!!! That's a month's worth of travel away!!" 

"Really? Wow, its a magical gate too." 

"Okay, we're releasing the prisoner." 

"Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" The man ran running down through the tunnels laughing hysterically. The bandit leader sweatdropped. 

"That's the third one now," he said. 

"Not right now I'm busy looking at this stalagmite." Xina formed some darkness around the elf girl and the spoken of stalagmite. "Oh, oh, oh, What, I'M BLIND!!!! This is GREAT....What else can this thing do?!" Xina sweatdropped. 

* * *

"What did I miss?" Xalan whirled to see his sister pop her head out of a shadow. 

"Xina, where did you go! We're looking for the bandits.." 

"Oh, I already found them," she stepped completely out of the shadow dragging along a blue haired elf-girl with her. 

"Hey, I wasn't finished analyzing..." 

"Tinuviel!" Jol shouted, and then he blushed. 

"What is it a sub dimensional vortex?" the elf girl continued. "Hi Jol. Oh I know, a pocket dimension!!" 

"Umm how did you get her away from the bandits Xina?" Xalan asked. 

"Oh I just promised to show the bandits where Amethyst was," Xina added. 

"Xina-san," Amethyst swallowed. "Why'd you do that?" Xina hung upside down from a tree limb and smiled. 

"Sore wa himitsu desu. Hey, this is fun!" 

"There they are! Attack!!" 

* * *

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[ Back to Fanfiction!][2]

[ On to Part 16!][3]

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	16. Scientific Curiousity

  
Slayers Born  
  
  
  
Scientific Curiousity  
  
  
  
Several things happened all at once. Xina disappeared into the trees still smiling and waving cheerfully. Xalan and Jolrael prepared their weapons and turned toward the voice, which was, of course, coming from downwind. Amethyst quickly went over the list of shamanist and white spells in her arsenal. Then there was Tinuviel, who blithely tried to walk into a shadow and managed to knock herself unconscious by running into a tree. Soon after this something like twenty bandits rushed towards them.  
"Okay, here we..."  
"FIREBALL!!" Jol and Xal threw themselves to the ground as Amethyst's spell stalled the charge and incinirated five bandits.  
"Warn us next time!"  
"Sorry!"   
Xalan and Jolrael recovered before the bandits did, giving them enough time to stand up. Xalan lunged forward twirling his staff while Jolrael let his opponents come to him. Well, one of them found himself suddenly thrown backwards, a second one started screaming as his muscles began cramping up.  
"Hey where''d everybody go!" the third cried out as his eyes stopped working. His sudden random flailing involved another two bandits, leaving two severely overmatched thugs for Jorael and his sword.  
Jorael looked to his left where Xalan was nudging the unconscious bodies of his opponents and blinked, actually impressed. Then he finished off the the various imobilized   
"I thought I'd warn you this time, because there are more coming," Amethyst suddenly shouted. "Earth below me submit to my will!"  
"You might want to run," Jol said to Xalan as the swordsman levitated off the ground. Xalan blinked and leaped for a tree, not knowing what exactly was about to happen.  
"DUG HAUT!!!" The confused bandits never stood a chance as the ground ripped apart beneath them and launched spears into their midsts.  
"That was very good!" somebody laughed. "About what I'd expect of a princess of Sailoon, but you have not yet faced me." The huge man launched himself forward at Amethyst shouting and weilding a huge axe.   
Then a translucent sphere of energy surrounded the bandit and he landed in front of Amethyst, bounced up and then landed behind her. Rolled, screaming all the way, and finally wedging himself into a pair of trees.  
"What is that?" Jolrael asked.  
"Hey! It worked!" Xina declared hopping down from a heavily covered tree and then looking at the sphere of force.  
"When did you learn how to do that?" Xalan asked, coming down from his tree. Xina turned to him and smiled.  
"Sore wa himitsu desu," she answered cheerfully.  
"Hey you said you'd help us capture the princess!" the bandit roared.  
"Now I don't recall that at all," she said innocently.  
"Let me guess," Jol said hovering crosslegged among the tree tops. "Your exact words, were 'take you to her,' am I right?" Xina smiled. "And you expected us to defeat them all right?"  
"Xina-san, how could you do that? What if there were too many of them?"  
"I'll deal with that when it happens." Xina waved it off. "Now there was something else I wanted to do." She regarded the bandit, inquisitively. "THAT'S RIGHT!!! You called me a boy!" She launched herself at the sphere only to be caught by her brother before getting there.  
"Just how do you expect to get him with that bubble around him?" Xalan asked his struggling sister.  
"Oh yeah," the bubble vanished. Everybody but Xina face faulted as the bandit found himself free.  
"Now, I'm going to chop you all into..." which was about the point that the other three recovered. The remains would have made a unique study on any coroner's table.  
"Umm, what happened to Tinuviel?" Jolrael suddenly asked.  
"Oww," they heard the elf-girl's voice behind them. "But why did it hurt so much this time?"  
"Tinu?"  
"Hey, Jol! I discovered some great new spells and magical items! Now I just have to figure out how they work."  
"What are you doing here?"  
"Well I think I came here via a magical gate," she said. "How'd you get here? Didn't you just leave yesterday, hmm I might not be all that far from home after all."  
"I've been travelling for nearly a month and a half."  
"Really, hmm, you know, I haven't seen anybody around recently," she tapped her chin in thought. "Ah Ha! I'll bet I got sucked through a time hole some where."  
"What is she talking about?"  
"Either that or you wandered off again and were so busy investigating everything you ran across that you didn't notice you were leaving home." Tinuviel appeared to think about it.  
"That works too!" Everybody facefaulted. "Now back to this shadow meld thing!" She tried to walk into the shadow again, and was stopped by Jolrael. "Hey, what's going on here?"  
"You didn't walk into the shadow," Xina told her, patiently.  
"But my head hurt, and then I couldn't see anything. If I didn't walk into the tree what happened."  
"Maybe you hit the tree and knocked yourself unconscious," Xina suggested dryly.  
"Xina-san be more polite." Tinuviel merely snapped her fingers.  
"That would account for the pain!"  
"Okay, Tinuviel, we have to track down this staff...."  
"Staff...." the elf repeated. She whirled on Jol and cheerfully requested, "Can I come?!?" Everybody looked at Jol expectantly.  
"Sure..." he said, everybody facefaulted.  
"Well, I guess we really have no choice," Xalan said.  
"Its not like we have time to go all the way to wherever she's from," Xina grumbled.  
"And we can't just leave her here..." Amethyst added.  
"Welcome to the group," Jol said sheepishly.  
"Oh, YAY!" Everybody sweatdropped as she danced about happily.  
"I wish he'd include us the next time he makes such a decision," Xina mumbled.  
"Which brings us to the next point," Xalan said. "Xina next time you do that give us a warning."  
"Do what?"  
"Go off on your own and use us as bait, Xina-san!" Amethyst added.  
"Okay, if you're going to be so grumpy about it," Xina hmphed. "I promise to warn you the next time I bait you."   
"Good," Xalan said, looking at her a couple of times curiously.  
"There is something fishy about that promise," Jol said. But then Tinuviel danced by and hugged him, and he lost his train of thought.   
  
  
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	17. Sparring

  
Slayers Born  
  
  
  
Sparring  
  
  
  
There were times that Zelgadis wished that he had left more of the   
competent nobles and officers in the capitol.  
"Sir there are...."  
"Two dragons this time, they've landed in the treeline, and now you can't   
see them." But no, he was capable of doing things himself, and the outer   
provinces all needed some good rulers.  
"Uh, that's right sir," the guard answered. "What do you want us to do   
about them?"  
"That depends on what result you want."  
"Sir?"  
"And since I don't really relish the idea of a pair of irritated parents   
that individually could defeat half the army...."  
"Sir?" the man swallowed nervously.  
"Give them an escort to see me, I'm quite sure they'll want to."  
"Yes sir." He left to follow his orders while Zelgadis rolled his eyes.   
This left Zelgadis time to plan his defense. He considered that Filia and   
Lina were both likely to be rather irritated. Lina more than Filia, of   
course, he hadn't done anything so foolish as to send Val Garv on an   
adventure. Well he had, but he'd sent the dragon home first.  
"Where is the self-centered, egotistical jerk!?!" He saw her pad past   
the door outside, then he heard her claws clicking to a stop a little ways   
down the hall. Shortly there after she smashed through the wall into the   
room.  
"Not lost your soft touch I see..." Zelgadis sniped.  
"You...you..."  
"Lina-san, please calm down," Filia said as she came into the study   
through the intended door. "Let him at least explain what's going on before   
we beat him to within an inch of his life." Zelgadis arched an eyebrow.   
Coming in behind Filia was a nervous looking Val Garv. Lina took in a breath   
and closed her eyes, trying to get a handle on her anger for a moment.  
"I sent Xalan here to bring Xina home, not so that they could get   
involved in a crazy quest across the countryside!"  
"I was expecting you, to be honest."  
"Yeah, what would have happened if lizard brain back there came back with   
Xina to an empty forest. Then we'd all be wandering around looking for each   
other."  
"Lina-san, I wish you would stop insulting my son." Lina eyed the mace   
in the dragon's hand.  
"I'll make you a deal, he stops getting Xina in trouble, I'll stop   
insulting him."  
"Your daughter is the one that drags him into trouble!"  
"If he would just say 'no' once in awhile!"  
"Wait a minute, we're here to deal with him, remember!" Zelgadis   
sweatdropped as Filia jabbed a finger at him. "Val!" Val Garv slumped and   
returned to the room.  
"Yeah, right, Zelgadis," Lina turned to face him. "So why DID you send   
our children out on a quest?"  
"Because I can't leave the capitol for long enough to accomplish   
anything," Zelgadis said. "I was hoping that one of you would go with them,   
but then again, the two of you have your own realms to consider, don't you?"  
"I'm just a hermit in the forest, milord," Lina snapped. "What do they   
need me for?"  
"A forest that's growing," he noted. "And bandit free."  
"I like my privacy," Lina grumbled.  
"Well you have had an effect, Lina-san."  
"Wait a minute, if you knew where I was, why'd Amethyst have to look for   
me?" Zelgadis shrugged.  
"I guessed where you were," he said. "And she wanted an adventure, you   
remember Amelia, always going off with us despite the fact that she had   
this," and he sweeped his hand to encompass the palace. "to come home to. I   
had no reason to believe she wouldn't find some way to leave eventually. It   
might as well have been under situations I could at least partially control."  
"Yeah, we saw how under control you had things."  
"Sailoon hasn't changed much," Zelgadis admitted. "I still get one or   
two of those every once in awhile, this is the first they've come to   
Amethyst's attention, however."  
"You've done a good job at sheltering her," Zelgadis winced. "Do you   
think she is prepared for the world out there?"  
"She has the necessary skills," Zelgadis arched an eyebrow and didn't   
bother to mention just who he was talking about. Lina didn't need to be   
told, which was obvious by her sudden fuming.  
"Lina-san..."  
"Are you calling my daughter..."  
"...hold your temper, he didn't..."  
"I notice you didn't say your son." Zelgadis interrupted.  
"My daughter can take care of herself, you damn control-freak!"  
"As long as she doesn't have to fight," Lina and Filia turned to glare   
indignantly at Val Garv. "I shouldn't have said anything, should I?"  
"Well I told Amethyst to be her sparring partner," Zelgadis said. "So   
she should get at least a little better."  
"Hold on a minute here," Lina snapped. Zelgadis regarded her curiously.   
"You told Amethyst to teach Xina how to fight?"  
"Well..."  
"My daughter is Amelia's daughter's apprentice?"  
"I guess you could..." Filia and Val Garv both had to restrain her until   
she calmed down.  
  
"Xina-san?" Amethyst asked nervously. "Why did you do that?" Xina   
groaned from where she lay at the foot the tree.  
"It seemed like a good idea at the time," she muttered.  
"But you had to know I would see what your were going to do," Amethyst   
scratched her head. "I thought you were feinting."  
"What reason would I have to faint?" Xina asked as she rolled to her back   
and then stood up, stretching as she rose.  
"Well obviously to make yourself an opening in my defense." Xalan tried   
to restrain his laughter, Jol smiled.  
"But how could I do anything while unconscious?"  
"Practically nothing, but you weren't unconscious." By this point   
sputters of giggles where coming from Xalan and Jol was quietly chuckling.  
"Then why did you think I was fainting?"  
"Because your attack was so obvious!"  
"What are you two laughing about?" Xina snapped at the two guys, both of   
whom were now laughing quite uncontrolably. Everybody was quieted by the   
sound of a sword leaving a scabbard.  
"I've wanted to get a look at this thing for a long time now," Tinuviel's   
voice rang out.  
"Jol," Xalan started. "Where's your sword?" Then the tree that Xina had   
been thrown against toppled. Xalan and Jol took very little time to get out   
of the way.  
"That's a smooth cut," Tinuviel commented. She started to put the sword   
down as she examined the glass smooth cut that the blade had left.   
Jol saw this and leaped for the blade before it could start cutting its   
way to the center of the planet. He was putting the blade back and slinging   
it across his back while Tinuviel absently dug around to try and find the   
blade.  
"Tinuviel," Jol started.  
"Hmm, what? Where'd the sword go?"  
"Could you ask us permission to look at our stuff please?"  
"Huh? Did I do something?"  
"Um, where did Xina and Amethyst go?" Xalan asked as he jumped onto the   
massive toppled tree.  
"Xalan-san! Jolrael-san!" a muffled voice called from under the tree.   
Jol and Xalan looked down.  
"Get this %^$%, ^*#^^#" tree #$@# off me!"  
"Xina-san, language!" Xalan and Jolrael sweatdropped.  
  
"They've left the city?" Zangulus stood in the wreckage of the   
guildmaster's would-be throne room.  
"Yes....one of my men said they were looking for a staff..."  
"Xellos Metallium's staff?" the guildmaster looked at him wide-eyed.  
"How did you...?"  
"How did I know? You don't need that information. Who did you sell the   
staff too?" Zangulus squeezed the man's throat a little tighter.  
"Ro...Roquen," Zangulus dropped the man.  
"You sold a mazoku's staff to the Necromancer?"  
"Money's money!" the man spat. Zangulus laughed and let his blade   
descend.  
"And you won't need it any more." He left the building, on the outside   
as innocent and peaceful as it had always seemed to be.   
  
  
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	18. Converging Plots

  
Slayers Born  
  
  
  
Converging Plots  
  
  
  
"WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED HERE!?!" the single guard on duty at the Tomb of   
Heros ran for the source of the scream. He found what looked like a fifteen   
year old girl with an odd-looking sword. He noticed, not without a great   
deal of trepidition, that she was regarding the ruined grave of Xellos   
Metallium.  
"Who are..." the girl grabbed the guardsman by the throat with a speed   
he'd only seen the Regent-Prince and his daughter achieve.  
"You are going to tell me what happened to Xellos's tomb...Now!" She   
released her grip enough to allow the man to breathe, but not for much more   
than a whisper of breath.  
"Grave..." she pulled him away from the wall and slammed him into it.  
"I gathered that! Who?"  
"Bounty hunter...Zangulus...nearly killed his daughter..."  
"I don't care about what happened to Princess Amethyst!!"  
"The...fox-girl...Xellos Metallium's daughter..." The girl stayed silent   
for a long moment.  
"Where is this girl now?"  
"Looking for...what was stolen...staff...body."  
If his staff is still intact, it might prove useful for our master.  
"Who. Is. The. Mother?" each word was puntuated by a slam into the wall.  
Jealous perhaps?  
"I...don't know...please, let me live." The man stammered, he had   
recognized the slit pupils and knew what this girl was. Considering her   
current attitude, bringing attention to himself was the last thing he should   
have done. The mazoku slashed forward with her blade and gutted the man,   
then letting his body dropped to the ground.  
"I'll get that staff for Dynast-sama," Sherra promised her sword. "And   
then we'll eliminate the threat of Xellos's daughter."  
All for the glory of Dynast-sama, of course.  
"What other reason could there be?"  
The hormonally exaggerated response of someone stuck in adolesence?  
"Shut up!"  
  
The "zombie" stared at him with hate-filled eyes. Hate-filled eyes that   
bore intelligence and unwilling loyalty. This was something more than the   
common zombie, it had a cold aura of power about it. Nothing so great as   
even a lesser demon, but still more than most sorcerers could create. He had   
successfully bound a spirit into a body, it was an amazing, supposedly   
impossible feat.  
"It's a key," he muttered in wonder. "It makes since considering the   
creature was supposedly playing games with the fabric of space when he died."  
"Is there anything you wish of me?" the zombie asked in a raspy voice.  
"Perhaps a test is in order," the Necromancer considered. "You had a   
family?"  
"Yes," the dead thing rasped.  
"Go and kill them, return with their heads and by then I should have I   
real task for you."  
"Yes," the zombie growled tightly, turning about and leaving the chamber   
on its way to obey its new master. Despite how much it despised doing so.  
"Now, perhaps, I can proceed with creating minions of REAL power."  
  
They were an easy group to track, Zangulus noted. Princess Amethyst   
might not have been as vocal about her justice kick as her mother had been,   
but chimera's were hard to miss. Especially chimera's that didn't care that   
people knew they were a chimera. The fox-girl and her brother were equally   
easy to mark. They were travelling with a large swordsman and an elf with a   
reportedly dangerous sense of curiousity. The swordsman interested him, some   
of the descriptions he had received sounded familiar.  
It certainly made sense, the bloods of Lina Inverse, Xellos Metallium,   
Zelgadis Greywords, and Amelia Sailoon were all present in their children.   
Of course Gourry Gabriev's kid would be there. And this certainly gave him a   
chance for some revenge.  
He should have been tracking down Roquen the Necromancer, but they were   
doing basically the same thing. The slayers always had been good at   
stumbling onto things. Following them might just get him to the staff faster   
than he could get there on his own. Of course, catching up to them would   
make this much easier, so he bent himself to the task of inquiring as to   
where they went.  
  
"...and he bore a twisting staff forked at the top and holding a blood   
red gem," Xina actually stopped eating and looked to where the traveler was   
telling his story. "He's some kind of sorcerer I tell you playing games with   
the spirits of the dead up to the north!"  
"Xina-san are you alright?" Amethyst asked upon noticing that the   
fox-girl wasn't eating with her normal gusto.  
"That sounds like the staff," Xina said, pointing at the man in the   
black-feathered cloak.  
"I thought you said you were a travelling entertainer," one of the man's   
audience grumbled. "That was a stupid story, I hope you don't expect us to   
pay you for that."  
"Why don't you play us some music on that horn of yours?" The man picked   
up the instrument, an odd thing of pipes and valves.  
"This?" he asked amused. "This is a remnant from my days in the   
military. I keep it around for when they call me back."  
"When do you think that will be?" somebody laughed. The traveler smiled,   
a showing of teeth.  
"Oh, not for a long time yet," he promised. "I've been seeing to that."  
"Hey you," Xina called over. "Talk about that staff again!"  
"If you'll excuse me," the man stood up and bowed. "I seem to have an   
interested audience." He padded over to the table where the new generation   
of slayers sat. "Lycanus Kord at your service, how my I help you?"  
"Did you actually see that staff," Xina asked.  
"Of course I did, but you don't want to get mixxed up in that," he told   
them.  
"Why not?" Jolrael asked.  
"Didn't you hear me? The man is playing games with the dead! I half   
think he's set on taking over the power vacuum left by Phibrizo's death!"  
"We have to go then, this affront to justice must be stopped," Xalan   
nodded in agreement with Amethyst as Xina rolled her eyes.  
"You know this staff sounds like its a key to the dimensional walls,   
allowing much easier access to the various other planes of existence,"   
everybody turned to face Tinuviel for a moment, but she had returned to   
trying to see just how much she had to apply with the knife before it   
actually cut her. If she hadn't known any better, she could have sworn   
something was pulling up on the blade to keep it from touching her.  
"Where did you see it?" Xalan asked as he turned back to the traveller.  
"In the region of Zefilia," the man said honestly. "North of here   
somewhere. But you really shouldn't go there, this man is dangerous."  
"Let us worry about that," Xina waved the problem away dismissively. "We   
can take care of ourselves." Xina went back to eating, while Xalan and   
Amelia turned to their beverages. Jolrael continued watching Tinuviel's   
knife, he appeared to be sweatin.  
"Ahem," the traveller held out his hand. Amethyst winced and handed over   
one of the gold pieces they had liberated from the bandits lair. "My thanks,   
and I wish you luck on the voyage though I don't know that you will have   
any." With that the man bowed again and walked to the bar with a menu in   
hand. The slayers had looked away and so they later assumed that they had   
just missed his exit. Because the next time they looked to the bar, he was   
already gone.   
  
  
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	19. Together Again

  
Slayers Born  
  
  
  
Together Again  
  
  
  
"She acted like this would be easy," the dragon grumbled as he winged through the air. Now that his mother and Lina were a safe distance away he felt it was okay to complain a little. "'Blue boy there says they went east, just go east, how hard is that?'" If she hadn't given Val these stones he could have sworn that she didn't want him to find the others.  
It was Zelgadis and his mother that had encouraged him to go after Xina and the others. The chimera had discussed some sort of prophecy with his mom while Lina grumbled off to the side and rummaged through her bag. There was something about 'old ones' and a raven with black fur, and after all was said in done his mother agreed that he should go to join the others.  
That was about the time Lina had jammed those jewels into his then human hands snapping "They could use those." Val could sense the magic within the stones, and didn't doubt that the shaman-priestess could definitely use them. Zelgadis and Fillia's upraised eyebrows were even more substantial proof of their power.  
He had been looking for about week now, which meant that he must have travelled more ground than they could have. Unfortunately he had overshot their several times and had to backtrack and ask around in human form a couple of times. Finally, it seemed they were on a steady track heading north for some reason, it shouldn't be long until he caught up with them now.  
  
"Excuse me, are you the Princess Amethyst of Sailoon?" Amethyst blinked and turned to face the desperate looking woman.  
"Yes, I am, how could you tell?" Everybody sweatdropped.  
"The metallic hair was probably a good clue," Jol noted.  
"Is it true that you are a practioner of white magic?"  
"Is this going to take all day?" Xina asked eyeing the inn and, in this way, the prospect of food. Xalan meanwhile was trying to deal with Tinuviel who had picked him as her most recent study subject. He was on the verge of turning the elf on his sister.  
"I've some training in white magic," she admitted. "But I'm a better shamanist. Why do you ask?"  
"Thank Ceipheed! It is you! It's her! It's her!" They were suddenly being surrounded by pleading townspeople. Actually, more to the point, Amethyst was being surrounded.  
"Oh your highness, we need your help!"  
"Let go of my tail."  
"Our town is besieged by dark forces!"  
"I just want to get a piece of fur."  
"They come in the night and kill any one caught outside!"  
"Umm these, 'dark forces' wouldn't perchance be dead things, would they?" Xina asked, suddenly interested.  
"You have seen them?"  
"No, but I and my companions have been tracking a vile sorcerer who enslaves the souls of the dead for his own vile purposes." Everybody sweatdropped again.  
"Hey did you hear that? We get to see undead monsters."  
"Hmm, I need to prepare for this then."  
"Good...Now, let go of my tail."  
"This means that you'll help us?"  
"All you can eat at the inn?" Jol and Xina asked at once. Yet another mass sweatdrop.  
"Well..." somebody started. Then the speaker grunted as if somebody had jabbed him in the ribs. "It's the least we can do."  
"Hey these zombies are as good as dead!" Xina promised, then she sweatdropped. "Well...you know what I mean."  
  
After seeing Jolrael and Xina eat, for something like two hours non-stop, the innkeeper almost preferred the undead creatures haunting the city to the heros they had hired to get rid of them. Then the sun had started to go down and he changed his mind as he rushed into his private room and bolted the door. By the time night had fallen everything and everybody was pretty much locked into there homes.  
"I wonder when this is supposed to happen?" Xina asked, bored.  
"Is your skin actually ivory or does it just look like that?"  
"Pretty soon now," Jolrael commented, drawing his sword. The hairs on the back of his neck were standing on end, something was coming.  
"Actually it is ivory-white marble."  
Xalan and Xina smelled the approach first, and almost simultaneously wrinkled their noses in disgust. There was a twanging sound and sharp "ouch" from Amethyst as the chimera turned to look at Tinuviel with a half-hurt, half-annoyed expression.  
"It feels like metal," the elf muttered.  
"Umm Tinu?" She glanced at him still playing with Amethyst's "hair." "Don't you think it would be better if you were to....uh stay inside?"  
"Too late," Xalan pointed to the shambling figures.  
"Don't waste..." Jolrael started.  
"You who are not of this world, by the light of purity I possess, I bid thee begone to the nexus of our two worlds! MEGIDO FLARE!"  
"...too much effort on these things," he finished as the zombies vanished in a flash of white magic.  
"Most Impressive," a rasping voice called out. "But I am not one of those mindless toys."   
Something dropped down in their midst and lashed out at Amethyst. The chimera lashed out with her blade, as Xalan attacked with his staff. Both weapons passed harmlessly through the shadowy figure, Amethyst's blade slicing cleanly through the kage-kitsune's staff.  
Amethyst felt their attacker grab her and then it was gone, screaming in hideous pain.  
"Hey, that actually works!" Tinuviel said, brandishing a vial of what had been holy water.  
"Okay, what was that?"  
"Never mind the what, how about the where?" Xina asked. Xalan examined the two halves of his staff and tossed them aside, shrugging. Maybe he couldn't touch it with the unenchanted weapon, but he himself was half-mazoku.  
"Amethyst, Xina," he said. "Don't bother with your swords," he noted Xina hadn't even drawn hers. "Well I guess you weren't about to anyway." She leveled him a glare and returned to looking for the shadow that had attacked them.  
"Here it comes again," Jolrael pointed.  
"You're sure?" Xalan asked. Then he saw a ripple of motion in the shadows that didn't belong.  
"He's sure," Xina said. That wall of Xina's appeared again, in time for the shadow to smack into it. In the night, the translucent wall seemed to be merely a sheet of moonlight. Until the shadow rebounded off of it. As the spirit maneuvered to come from another direction, Jol moved forward. Xina's wall dropped as he slashed out with his blade. The dark creature was hard pressed to avoid the attack and backed into Xalan's reach.  
The kage-kitsune confirmed his belief that his fists could do what his staff could not, as he punched into their attacker's head. A flurry of kicks and punches forced the creature back towards Jolrael as the sound of chanting could be heard. The swordsman slashed low, cutting the shadow creature's "feet" out from under him.  
"...let the power hidden in my soul be called forth from the Infinite..." The shadow's feet reformed and it tried to leap away, only to find itself caught in a bubble of translucent light. "RA TILT!"  
The trapped spirit screamed in agony as it was torn apart by the astral spell.  
"Is that it?" Xina asked after a moment's anxious silence. The words seemed to summon forth a great gust of wind which knocked them off their feet.  
"What beast of darkness dares attack us now?" Amethyst shouted. Xalan and Xina, however, recognized the scent the artificial wind carried.  
"Hey Val, could you watch the landing next time?" Xina asked.  
"Sorry," the dragon grumbled loudly.  
"Change to you're human form, so you don't destroy the village we just saved," Xalan added.  
"Is that a REAL dragon?" Tinuviel asked.  
"I'm a real dragon," Val admitted, managing to sound embarrased even in this form. Everybody else looked at Tinuviel and sweatdropped.   
  
  
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	20. Megido Flare

  
Slayers Born  
  
  
  
Megido Flare  
  
  
  
"Well. I think that's the last of them," Amethyst sighed as her Megido Flare destroyed another patch of the zombies that shade had left behind. She wiped her forehead and glanced at Xalan.  
"All I can smell is what is left of these corpses," Xalan shrugged.  
"It feels safe," Jol asserted, for good measure he cast about with more active senses. There was evil present, but it was fading away quickly, probably remnants of the shade's presence. Other than that, the only powers he felt where the five of them.   
"So the only clue you're following is that some sorcerer messing with the undead has the staff," Val said coming around a corner in human form. Tinuviel glanced at him for a moment and then did a double take, blushing furiously. Jolrael narrowed his eyes as he noticed.  
"Yes, that's about right," Amethyst nodded.  
"How do we even know this has anything to do with this Roquen person?"  
"That traveller said he was some where to the north, the probability is quite high that he is involved," Tinuviel said, starry-eyed.  
"Yeah, but we didn't really learn anything from this little adventure though," Jolrael complained loudly.  
"Well, Jolrael-san, that isn't QUITE true," Amethyst noted, embarrassed, pointing.  
"Yeah, we did learn one thing," Xalan agreed looking where Amethyst pointed along with everybody else.  
"Doesn't the sky look great, it's going to be a great sunrise, " Xina sighed sedately. "You know I really love being on the road with you guys. You're all so great. I love inns and nice soft beds and gullible townspeople," she giggled. "Oops, didn't mean to say that..." she continued babbling quietly while lying on her back staring up at the sky.  
"What happened to her?" Val asked. Everybody pointed at Amethyst who flushed from embarrassment.  
"I love you Xal, I love you Val," the dragon blushed furiously, and Tinuviel gasped. "I love you Jol, I love you Tinu, I love you Amethyst. I love mom and dad, whereever he is, and Filia and I kinda like Zelgadis." Everybody sweatdropped, even people that couldn't be seen by the rest of them.  
"Megido Flare," Amethyst answered sheepishly.  
"One spell did..." Val started then noticed Amethyst rolling her eyes up and biting her lip. "How many times did you hit her with it?"  
"Five times." Xalan answered.  
"This is going to be bad when she comes out of it."  
  
"Xina-san," Amethyst called out. "Are you okay?" The kage-kitsune grabbed her head as the sound crashed into her ears and aggravated the headache that had grown as her mellow attitude moved to something more normal for her.  
"No, I don't feel all right, my head hurts, I'm nauseous and I can barely walk straight!" The outburst didn't do her much good.  
"That's funny, megido flare isn't supposed to have a negative effect on living people."  
"I let Tinuviel get a 'sample' of my hair," Xina grumbled, indicating the now much shorter purple hair. "And you say it doesn't have negative effects."  
"Hmm, I wonder if this is because you're half mazoku," Amethyst wondered. Then a cloaked form dropped into their midsts.  
"I assume you're the...."  
"I said my head hurts," Xina snapped as she smashed the man with the flat of her heavy practice blade. Then she dropped and grabbed her head again, grimacing.  
"Like mother, like daughter," Val grumbled.  
"Ouch," the man groaned. Then he saw the blade pointed at him, and Jolrael at the end of it.  
"Who are you?"  
"I was beginning to think that smell was following us," Xalan added, leaning on his new staff  
."I'm hunting the Necromancer just like you are," he stammered quickly. "I was thinking perhaps we should join forces in defeating this foul fiend." Jol narrowed his eyes and considered the statement. As far as it went, it seemed to be the truth, but there was something not quite right here. Xalan obviously had similar opinions, judging by the arched eyebrow.  
"While I'd be happy to have another comrade in our battle against this foe," Amethyst started. Then she continued in a tone very like her father's "I have to ask, what use you would be?" The man loooked to be about Xalan's height, though it was hard to tell, him being still on the ground, with sun-darkened brown hair.  
"Why, I am a sorcerer of some talent!" he declared. "And while your white magic is powerful, you must admit having a powerful caster of black magic would be useful."  
"You don't seem that powerful to me," Xalan noted.  
"And how do we know that you're not the 'fiend' we're looking for anyway?" Xina asked.  
"Yeah, you could be trying to wheedle your way into our good graces so you can betray us later."  
"No, he's telling the truth about wanting to join forces," Jol commented.  
"Hmm, what's one more person," Val asked. "Besides, if he's actually got some power he could be a help in protecting the girls."  
"Amethyst and I..."  
"Oh sorry, I didn't mean to include Amethyst." Xina's eyes snapped wide, and Xalan sweatdropped.  
"Oh, Val-san, you're worried about ME?" Tinuviel's comment caused Jol to narrow his eyes. Before anything else happened, Val saw a flash of movement, felt something strike his face, and then he hit the ground, moderately confused. He sat up in time to see Xina stumbling off down the road. "Val-san are you allright?"  
"What did I do?"  
"Are you guys coming or not!?!"   
  
  
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	21. Enter Janus

  
Slayers Born  
  
  
  
Enter Janus  
  
  
  
"That was an excellent strike, Inverse-san," Xina narrowed her eyes as she regarded the sorcerer carefully. She looked back and noticed that the rest of her group was running to catch up with the two of them.  
"How did you get here ahead of them?" she asked tightly, still gripping her aching head. She sounded a deal more irritable than she wished, but she could attribute that to her headache and nausea.  
"Raywing, a spell for flying," he answered simply. Xina nodded, unconcerned, the others would be on them quickly, and she still had one more thing to ask. "So what did the Necromancer steal from you perhaps?" Xina restrained herself from smiling at the question.  
"He's a freak raising the dead to conquer the world, that's why we're after him," she answered. "Did he steal something from you?"  
"An old staff, it has some sentimental value," he was probing her, she shrugged.  
"We'll try to get it back for you I guess," she responded calmly, then everybody else was there. "What's your name?"  
"Janus," the handsome sorcerer answered, smiling.   
"What's taking you guys so long," Xina snapped at everybody. "We have wizards to kill and staves to reclaim."  
"Is he bothering you," Val asked, pointing at the sorcerer   
"No Val, he is not bothering me," Xina growled, glancing at Janus's pleased expression while the man was distracted. "Janus-san is coming with us, he has been wronged by our mutual enemy." Val noted the honorific applied to the man's name and glared at the man.  
"Oh my, we shall definitely do everything in our power to see that you gain justice," Amethyst declared predictably.  
"I don't trust him," Val grumbled. Xina glanced at the other two men and noted that they agreed.  
"Your not...jealous? Are you?" Xina asked viciously.   
"Why would I be jealous over a little runt like you?" Val asked angrily. The next thing he felt was Xina's practice sword across his skull.  
"I am not a runt!" Xina yelled, then her eyes widened. "Oh...my head."  
"Where does it hurt?" Tinuviel asked. She poked the pained kage-kitsune in the forehead and was rewarded with a snapped complaint. "How about here....here?"  
"Quit poking me!!!.....owww?" by the time the ruckus over her ended, most of them had forgotten their distrust of the sorcerer. Jol sort of looked at her suspiciously, but that was the only indication anybody had noticed.  
  
"These are the ones that destroyed Kurst? These...fools?" He was looking at the new slayers through a scrying pool. He found their antics mildly amusing, but they diidn't seem to be any sort of threat.  
"Shall I go out and destroy them, Master?" Roquen turned to face the shadw with an annoyed expression.  
"There is white magic there," Roquen grunted. "This will take something of a living bent."  
"You think me unequal to the task?" the shade protested. "As you said before, these are just fools."  
"I refuse to underestimate these travellers," the mage snapped. "That could prove fatal."  
"What do you wish me to do, master?"  
"There is a tribe of trolls not far from here," Roquen told him. He waved his hand over the enchanted water and the scene changed, revealing a dark and twisted wood. There were crude dwellings in the wood and the ugly, massive shapes of shambling trolls. In the center was an ancient obsidian statue probably dragged from some ruin or another.  
"They just happen to worship a being of shadow and darkness," the mage continued. "Perfectly fictional, but useful considering the nature of such minions as yourself."  
"I understand, master," the shadow turned flowed out of the room, moving to fulfill its masters' wishes. As the mage watched the scrying pool's surface changed of its own accord. He saw an image of the moon, full and bright, shining down on a sylvan forest. An elven hunter stalked through on a hunt. "These are the threats, thhe elf and the moon."  
Roquen grumbled, wondering if he would spot and solve the riddle in time.  
  
"Jolrael," Xina called quietly to the swordsman. Everybody else was asleep, annd that was the way she wanted it. She double-checked Janus, collecting his scent and listening to his breath and heart. "Did anybody mention my mother before Janus talked to me?"  
"No, why?"  
"I was curious, thanks," she laid back down and immediately started snoring, cutting off any further comment from Jolrael. She wasn't asleep though, and Jol probably knew that, but she didn't care. Xina thought back over several years to an overheard conversation.  
"Why did you give them Xellos's name?" Filia asked.  
"I don't know, a memorial maybe, what other name should I have used?"  
"Won't that cause them problems, why not use your own name?"  
"Inverse?! Are you crazy?"  
"What's wrong with that name?"  
"There are only two Inverses in this world," her mother had said. Then she had grimaced and twitched. "Well maybe three, but I'd rather not go into HER at the moment. There's me and there's my sister, my sister doesn't have any kids. I don't think so anyway. Meanwhile, I'm supposed to be dead. If they go by Inverse, everybody is going to know who's kids they are."  
"You'd rather them be known for their mazoku father rather than you?" As usual Lina had not responded well to people talking poorly of Xina's father.  
"What's wrong with Xellos?"  
"Nothing, but most people are going to distrust half-mazoku."  
"How many people know the name Xellos Metallium? Include everybody you can."  
"I wouldn't think many, he did a good job of laying low."  
"How many people know Lina Inverse?" Filia was silent. "Practically everybody, right?"  
"I see your point."  
"Besides, this way the only people that know their mother's name are friends and foes. Anybody that doesn't have a connection will be clueless."  
Xina thought about this, and she thought about how Janus knew that she was an Inverse. He was looking for the staff and using them to get there, what intentions he had beyond that, she didn't know. To make things moderately better, she had the added bonus of getting back at Val for the idea that she couldn't take care of herself in a fight.  
Xina flashed a predatorial grin for a brief moment. Well, she might not have her brother's talent for fighting, but she had other talents. She'd play this game, but the rules were going to be hers.   
  
  
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	22. Illusion of Life

  
Slayers Born  
  
  
  
Illusion of Life  
  
  
  
"These are some very interesting mutations," Tinuviel tapped her chin in thought as she regarded the twisted trees. "I wonder if this is connected to the general lack of life in this region." The elf girl was trailing along behind the rest of them.  
"You know, having these extra numbers and everything is all fine and good," Xalan started. "But it's slowing us down significantly."  
"Yeah, it took us forever to pass that carriage," Xina agreed. "What was his problem anyway? I thought his eyes were going to pop out of his skull."  
"We were outrunning his horses, three of us are quiet obviously NOT human, and we can quite obviously handle a fight. I'd say that those are all reasons to be some what worried."  
"Out of curiousity, what is it like living here?" Everybody looked a little confused at Tinuviel's statement.  
"Trees can't talk Tinuviel," Xina half-growled.  
"Those warts look pretty bad, do they give you any pain?" Tinuviel's question was followed by a loud, pained roar. Everybody face faulted. "That's an ugly club, why don't you use something better made?"  
"How come all these people manage to come at us downwind all the time?" Xalan asked, frustrated.  
"Smash annoying elf!"  
"Annoying elf---*?" Jol pushed her out of the way as the trolls tree trunk club crashed down to the ground. "Hey Jol...would you be careful....you're destroying all these plants!"  
Several more trolls stood behind the first one and started to shamble around him.  
"Flare Lance!"  
"Hell Blast!"  
The first two trolls fell under the power of the two spells, and the rest of the attackers hesitated. They looked doubtfully at the charred and drained corpses of there fellows and at the small humanoids they were being told to attack.  
"Kill little ones!! Ma'gluks say kill!" The trolls again started shambling forward, one of them slashed down with one of the trees they were using as clubs. Xalan caught it in his hand and almost absent mindedly diverted it to the side and then held it in place.  
"Weakling let go of club!!" the troll complained. Xalan arched an eyebrow.  
"If you really want me to," he let go sending the troll flying backwards into his companions.   
Jolrael, after showing Tinuviel a lovely; to a normal person this could be translated as twisted, diseased, and mutated; patch of what might have been bamboo at one time, leaped up and stopped in mid-air. One of the trolls took a moment to scratch its head in confusion at the human that refused to fall from the air. Then two of his comrades had their throats slit by that floating human's blade.  
Val considered taking dragon form, but since he didn't really have time to get out of his clothes, and didn't have any spares, he settled for magic.  
"Umm....Fireball," the spell burst in the middle of three trolls covering the trolls around them with soot from the charred creatures.  
"Disfang!" Xina watched wide-eyed as the shadow dragon wrapped about the troll's shadow and started tearing it apart. Then she smiled viciously.  
"Bamu Rod!!" Amethyst slashed with the fire whip as trolls tried to move towards her. Xalan meanwhile had given up on his staff and was settling for pulling the trolls down to his level and snapping their necks with his mazoku-blood strength. Whenever a troll got too close, Val used similar tactics, while Jol took a more airborne approach with his levitation aided leaps.  
Basically, they were slowly but surely decimating the trolls. Xina zipped by through the lines, with her sword drawn.  
"Hey what do you think you're doing!?" Val shouted. Then Xina found a troll's shadow and melded into it. "What is she.." Then the troll started convulsing as cuts appeared on its body and a shadow blade extended in and out of its shadow. The troll finally fell forward, and as its shadow vanished, Xina was deposited unceremoniously back in to the physical world.  
"Ouch, have to work on...." she watched wide-eyed as a troll club began to descend toward her. Then it was ripped to pieces as Jolrael passed by, a second troll was wrapped in a tongue of flame and burned to a crisp. Xina wasted no more time trying to find another shadow.  
Things travelled downhill from there, for the trolls at least.  
  
"So how's that for..."  
"DON'T DO THAT AGAIN!!" Xalan shouted, obviously frightened. Xina took a moment to get over the surprise of her brother yelling and then glared.  
"Like hell I won't!" she snapped. "Stop treating me like a damn baby, I'm faster than you, I'm almost as strong..."  
"I'm not saying don't fight," he interrupted, receiving another glare. "But don't act so stupid about it."  
"Stupid?" she snapped. "Stupid!" She shrugged him off and went off into the twisted wood, chin raised arrogantly.  
"Him and that dragon," she muttered. "I don't need _their _help, thinking I'm so weak." She sniffed the air and grumbled some more. "What are you doing here?" At least it wasn't Janus, she didn't think that she was under control enough to maintain her veil.  
"He's just worried about you," Amethyst said.  
"Well, he doesn't have anything to worry about," Xina snapped. "I can handle myself, and I just proved it." Amethyst sat down next to her.  
"You left the lines," the chimera pointed out. She was speaking in that tone she adopted when they sparred, it always reminded Xina slightly of her father's ever critical and sarcastic speech patterns. "When you needed support we had to ignore our fronts. If they had been something more than trolls, we would have been in trouble."  
"I don't want to be like Tinuviel," she said quietly. "I don't want to NEED help..."  
"Everybody needs help," Amethyst laughed. "Even such defenders of justice as us!" The last was not a joke, and Xina wondered how some one who was obviously skilled in battle was so naive. "Instead of sparring, how about next time we try something to help you learn about strategy."  
"What do you suggest?" An illusion appeared in front of the cheerful chimera, a board of squares with the intricately crafted images of warriors and wizards. Xina recognized two of the pieces as her mother's human form, and noted the staff wielding man next to her on either side of the board. Filia held either end of the rear ranks. The front rank was a row of eight blonde swordsman baring a resemblance to Jol. In the center the queen and king seemed to have been reversed in order. Zelgadis stood in the queen's position, and a small dark-haired young woman stood in the king's position.  
"How's chess?"  
"Is that...?" Xina pointed to the staff-wielder with purple hair like her own red-streaked covering.  
"The bishop? That's your father," Amethyst said.  
"How do you..."  
"I didn't know what he looked like, my father showed me how to make this illusion. That's my mother." She pointed to a black-haired young woman in the queen's position.  
"Can you make it bigger?" Xina asked.  
"Sure, why not," Amethyst shrugged. The board vanished and a large illusion of a smiling Xellos stood before them with closed eyes. Xina stood up and walked around it. Then the image bent forward waggled a finger, its lips moving silently and one of the eyes opening to form a secretive wink.  
"Did you do that?" Xina asked as the illusion returned to normal.  
"No I didn't," Amethyst answered nervously. "Let's go back to the others, okay?"  
"Sure," Xina said as the illusion faded away. "Hey Amethyst..."  
"Yes, Xina-san?"  
"Thanks, you're not as bad as I thought," she said. Amethyst brightened visibly.  
"Your welcome, Xina-san."  
  
"That must have taken a lot of effort."  
"Its...worth it..." the other panted.  
"How is it worth it, you hold yourself here in limbo, give her false hope, and neglect her brother. Nothing but pain all around. You should pass on."  
"Thanks for your advice, but I think I'll hang around a while longer."  
"What can you gain from it?"  
"Sore wa himitsu desu."   
  
  
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	23. Hostage

  
Slayers Born  
  
  
  
Hostage  
  
  
  
Zangulus came upon the remains of the trolls about a day after they had died,   
the creatures of the twisted forest had nearly stripped the carcasses to the   
bone, but the quality of the remaining flesh was not indicative of much   
decay. He wasn't much behind them, which was perhaps as much a bad thing as   
a good thing.  
The bounty hunter did not doubt that he could take any one of these   
children on their own. The black blade strapped to his back renewed his   
youth and charged his strength beyond what he had had twenty years ago.   
There were the uncomfortable urges that he had been having since taking the   
blade. He had almost killed an unconscious girl, a half-mazoku freak, but   
still just a defenseless girl. That was certainly not an honorable action.   
He thanked Ceifeed that the girl woke up before he could slaughter her so.   
Now he could slay her in honorable combat.  
"First the staff, then Gabriev," Zangulus repeated to himself. He   
thought of the defiant fox-girl then and how close he had come to breaking   
her. "Business before pleasure."  
  
"Master..."  
"SILENCE!!" Roquen shouted from where he was engraving the floor with   
symbols of death, magic, eternity and darkness. He had paused in his actions   
as the shade spoke. "A distraction could bring a slip of the chisel and ruin   
the circle! Fool!"  
"But Master, the trolls have been destroyed."  
"Hmph, I suspected as much," the necromancer gestured for the shade to   
approach. "You witnessed the attack?"  
"Yes," the necromancer stuck his hand in the shade's "head" and took the   
knowledge he wished for out of the undead's mind. The shade screamed as its   
master carelessly ripped its essence to pieces in the effort. As the shade   
dissipated into nothng the necromancer retrieved his hand, shrivelled from   
contact with the dark creature, and healed it.  
"Such strength and power in such young children," Roquen commented. "The   
princess of Sailoon I recognize, but these others..." he thought of the   
warning his scrying pool had given about the moon and the elf. "That only   
leaves the moon, who would that be?" He mumbled a chant and twisted his hand   
in a summoning gesture. Another shade appeared before him.  
"Yes master?" Roquen couldn't help but smile, the staff had increased his   
power beyond what he had thought it would. Still he could not just throw   
away these specters forever, there was only a limited supply of dead in the   
area.  
"There is a young elf-woman in the forest," Roquen said. "Collect her   
and bring her here, but do not harm her."  
"Yes master," the shade began to shift its form in preparation to leave.  
"Oh, and do not engage her friends, they are too much for you."  
"But how do I capture her then?"  
"That is your problem."  
  
Xina was finding chess infinitely more enjoyable than sparring. Amethyst   
still beat her, but the difference in their skill was rapidly closing the   
gap. At the moment, Xina's recklessness was what was getting her in trouble.   
This was the usual state of affairs with her. As usual, Amethyst, who in   
dealing with people and life was clueless, was much more cagey in a more   
military conflict.  
"Check!" Xina declared loudly as her mother dragu-slaved the illusionary   
Val that served as the demon-side's black-square bishop. Xina watched the   
illusionary spell battle in a wonder that hadn't yet diminished. Her mother   
had had control of such devestating power and never mentioned it. Well, she   
had told stories about defeating monsters and demons, but she had always   
attributed the feats of magic to some other companion.  
"Oh dear," Amethyst appeared troubled as she considered the move.   
"Shouldn't we be travelling, Xina-san," Janus asked, a bit anxiously.  
"If we knew where to go maybe," Xina shrugged, raising her eyes   
momentarily to glance at the sorcerer with a sunny face. Her glance back   
down at the bored took in Val's annoyed bristle at the obvious favor she was   
placing at the sorcerer's feet. Good, let him stew on that.  
"Besides which we're in better shape if we stay in one place for their   
move," Xalan noted. "We know the undead generally stalk at night after all."  
"You seem rather anxious to face potential death," Jolrael noted.  
"I'd like to get this over and done with." So much for the sentimental   
value of his old staff.  
"It seems like you get less interested the closer we get," Val grumbled.  
"Oh, Val-san, aren't isn't the flora here so interesting?" Val   
sweatdropped as Tinuviel made a quick appearance. "I can't wait to get a   
look at some of the fauna!" Xina glared as the elf-girl tried to drag Val   
off to look at some twisted plant she had found. The distraction had killed   
the chance she had to get more info out of the questionable sorcerer. If she   
weren't so concerned over not letting anybody know she suspected him, she   
could have just questioned him. She wanted to know more about his motives,   
however.  
"Your turn Xina-san," Amethyst said and Xina looked back at the board and   
her eyes snapped wide. His mother's duplicate had vanished, replaced by some   
orange haired guy with a big sword. The demon-rook had a straight line to   
the figure of Amethyst's mother that served as "king" of Xina's pieces.  
"Where did that...."  
"Hey, let go of me!" Everybody looked to where Tinuviel, momentarily   
discouraged by Val's continued resistance, had been investigating a crumbling   
mutated tree. The elf girl was punching and kicking at a figure of shadow.   
"I'm not done yet!" Her attacks were proving fairly useless.  
"Let go of her dead man!" Jol shouted as he passed his sword through an   
arm. The magical blade sliced the thing's unholy arm off, and the limb   
dissipated as soon as it was cut from the rest of the creature. It let out   
an unholy screech and dropped its chosen hostage, backing away from the   
oncoming warriors. Xina noticed it fading into the shadows. Both her and   
Xalan noted the sudden movement from various shadows of the area  
"Get back Tinu," Xal commanded. "They're coming in strength."  
"Look at that," Tinuviel said dreamily. "The animals of this forest must   
possess some sort of shadow magic."  
"Tinuviel, get behind us," Val shouted as he passed her "It'll be easier   
to protect you!"  
"Certainly Val-kun," Tinuviel bowed, speaking in a low awe-filled voice.   
and Amethyst took a rear position to support the three fighters, or rather to   
have a safe position to rain death on them. It didn't take long for Xina to   
notice something about these new shadows.  
"They all have one arm!" Xina shouted. "Its a trick!" She turned to   
face Tinuviel in time to see the real shade again grabbing the elf-girl.   
This time, though, a great flying beast of shadow and bone flew down to carry   
shade and elf-girl away into the night sky.  
"TINUVIEL!!!"  
"Come on Val!" Xina shouted. The dragon was already half-way through the   
transformation. Xina snapped up to the dragon's neck, followed by most   
everyone else. Then Val lifted off in pursuit of the beastly flying   
creature. The thing flew not much faster than the dragon, and soon it was   
becoming obvious that it was heading for a rickety old tower built by some   
long forgotten lord and overrun by the swamp soon after.   
  
  
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	24. Two Face

  
Slayers Born  
  
  
  
Two Face  
  
  
  
"It seems solid," Tinuviel said to herself, sitting on the back of the creature. "But," she stuck her hand into the creature. "Hey that's cold!" She pulled her hand out and watched as the shriveled, life-drained hand returned to normal. "Hmmm, that's an interesting reaction."  
"Do not do that again," the shadow commanded. "The master requires you to be unharmed."  
"Master...are you mazoku?"  
"No...I am not."  
"Then why do you have mazoku?"  
"Aren't you scared at all?"  
"Not really. Now how exactly can I put my hand through this bird, and still be able to ride on it?" She scratched her head in thought.  
The shade ignored her as it shifted its awareness to regard the dragon close behind it. As soon as they landed, this girl's friends would be on them. Somehow he did not think that this is what his master had in mind when he was sent to collect the elf-girl. There was something funny here, these winged shades were usually much faster.  
"My master is not going to be pleased with me," the shade sighed.  
"It won't be a problem!" The shade turned to the source of the voice in time to see a black blade slice down and through its dark, insubstantial form. Zangulus grunted as he sat down on the back of the shadow creature's back. Tinuviel looked at him and scrunched her face.  
"Hey, when did you turn into a person?"  
"I didn't turn into anything," Zangulus snapped.  
"Then how did you get here?" Tinuviel asked in confusion. "And what happened to the shadow thing?"  
"Girl, you are in a very bad situation, you most likely are going to die," Zangulus explained patiently. "Aren't you the least bit afraid?"  
"Why should I be?" Zangulus managed to avoid face faulting off the beast. "Oh my, that is a perfect example of pre Kouma War architechture, I wonder what it was made for, is that where we're going?"  
Zangulus resigned himself to dealing with the girl, as sanity stretching as that might be. She might make a good hostage against the others later.  
  
"The shade was destroyed," Val grumbled in his dragon voice.  
"Did she toss some of that water on it or something?" Xina asked, she was sitting up near where the neck met the head..  
"No there is some older man with a black sword," Val answered.   
"Black blade?"  
"He was hanging from the side of the thing since before we followed it. I think he stabbed the blade into it for a hand hold or something."  
"Zangulus," Xina snarled.  
"That's the guy that attacked you?" Val asked her.  
"Yeah," Xina snarled. "As soon as he lands, let's gut him."  
  
The circle was ready, he could cast the spell, but first he wanted to see what he had to deal with. When the spell was cast he'd spend some time locked away, protected and unreachable. Of course, while his transformation was occuring, his minions would arise in force. Then he would have a strong border prepared for his arrival. And the true conquest would begin.  
A piercing cry ripped through the night sky beyond his walls. The necromancer strolled out to the window, and saw the dragon pursuing his shadow raptor. The necromancer's eyes widened and he ran back to the center of his circle, grabbing the mazoku's staff as he did so. He needed to cast the spell now!  
  
As the beast landed, Zangulus dragged the girl off of it, interrupting a discourse on proper methods of maintaining such a building. The bounty hunter absent mindedly sliced his blade up through the shadow creature, causing its life force to dissipate into nothing.  
"Come on girl, I don't want to be here when your friends land."  
"That's weird," Tinuviel said, unconcernedly looking up. Zangulus looked up for a moment and saw the shadows along the ceiling being drawn inward. "I wonder what's doing thaaa...."  
Zangulus dragged her along following the withdrawing shadows. Behind him he heard the dragon landing, but he was already inside.  
"Damn it he's getting away!!" Xina shoutted.  
"Xina, wait for us!" Xalan called out, running after her. His sister stalled as skeletons and zombies started bursting from the ground. Jol leaped right over her and the ranks of undead disappearing after the bounty hunter. Xina drew her sword, these mindless creatures weren't much of a threat, even to her. Then remembered the last time a mass of undead had appeared around her.  
"Oh no!!! Not again!!" Xina back pedaled just in time to avoid a pair of quick fired Megido Flares. "Wait for me to get out of the way!!!" More undead were raising already, and shades could be seen in their ranks.  
"Go on!" Janus shouted. "The dragon and I will hold these minions!"  
"Val?" Xina asked.  
"Go!" the dragon, now in human-form, wearing sort of a thrown on robe from somewhere. Then he crushed an attacking skeleton. Xalan, Xina and Amethyst smashed their way through the horde with the other two following behind and then blocking the way further into the building.  
"I can't smell anything in all this stink," Xalan snapped.  
"This place is evil," Amethyst shivered. "After we rescue Tinu we should raze it too the ground."  
  
"Hey, could you let go of me," Tinuviel shouted. She snatched a vase that was one of the few un broken artifacts in the hallway. "Look at this vase, it must be older than..." she smashed it into the back of her captor's head. He fell to the ground and let go of her. "Oh, damnit, I broke it. What happened to you?"  
"Dangerous sense of humor does not cover it." Zangulus complained as he stood up.  
"I don't know who you are," Zangulus turned to face the voice and saw Jolrael standing there, sword in hand. "But get away from her."  
  
Xina pulled ahead of her brother and Amethyst, following the shadows. She knew that the staff was there somewhere, and Zangulus would be there too, with Tinuviel.  
"Hurry up!" Tinuviel shouted.  
"Xina-san, please wait for the rest of us!" They all turned a corner into a huge room emanating dark power. In the center of an engraved circle was a twisting skeleton surrounded by dark power. Xina immediately recognized the staff in the thing's hands.  
"You fools are too late," the undead monster snapped. "I am reborn, and within a season I will rise to rule this world!!!"  
  
"Is that everything," Janus asked as he charred another skeleton.  
"I think so," Val muttered. "We must have used up the place's graveyard. Those shades are easier the second time around."  
"Good, its just us then," Janus laughed. Val turned in time to see the dagger sink into his shadow.  
"Traitor," Val spat.  
"I was never on your side," Janus corrected him. "And now, without you, Xina and her father's staff are mine."  
"FIREBALL!!" Val shouted. "LIGHTING!"  
"WINDY SHIELD!!!" The fireball bounced up into the ceiling and the stone work collapsed on both combatants.   
  
  
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	25. Towers Crumble

  
Slayers Born  
  
  
  
Towers Crumble  
  
  
  


Zangulus scanned the boy in front of him, though young man might have described him better. His build, his face and the way he held himself in preparation for battle. 

"You must be Gabriev's son," Zangulus said coldly, drawing his black blade. Jolrael narrowed his eyes. 

"Oh, do you know Gourry-san?" Tinuviel asked as the bounty hunter dragged her along behind him. "Hey, couldn't you just ask!?" The warriors were circling each other, waiting for the other to make a move. 

"His father and I have a long-standing difference of opinion." 

"Doesn't really matter, does it," Jolrael said. "Whatever problem you have with my dad, has nothing to do with us." 

"You seem a little less....dense than Gourry," Zangulus noted. "Did his talent skip you as well?" 

"And are you getting old that you have to hide behind a hostage?" 

"Hostage? What hostage?" Jol and Zangulus face faulted. 

"Fine then, let's get this over with," Zangulus snapped his blade forward as Jol got to his feet. Jolrael's own weapon blocked the other aside and spun out of the block into a slash that was in turn parried. Sparks of power flashed as the weapons collided. 

"That was good," Zangulus noted. The older swordsman swung his sword away from the parry, trying to come in from another angle. Jolrael only just managed to get his block up in time. "Your father was better." 

"I have a few tricks he doesn't," Jol assured him. Zangulus was pushed off his feet and back about ten feet by something he did not see. He rolled to his feet in time to avoid a swift downward strike held at the end of onne of Jol's leaps. Zangulus was no longer amused by this confrontation. 

The swords clashed and sparked with strike and parry as the battle went on. 

"Hey could you repeat that exchange?" Tinuviel said from where she sat with a little notebook and feather pen. 

"WHAT?" both warrior's shouted. 

"I think I missed some of the movements." 

* * *

"What is that?" Xina asked as the necromancer's skeleton seemed to further dissolve. 

"RA TILT!!" The blue-white flames flashed forward and surrounded the creature. Nothing happened. "His spirit isn't here!" 

"White as the moon!" the twitching skull cackled. A blast of dark fiery power launched itself at the chimera. 

"WINDY SHIELD!" the darkness swirled into the wall of air and dissipated. Xina sheathed her sword and ran forward at the cackling creature. 

"Xina look out!" Xalan cut across and shoved her aside as another blast targetted her. 

"We have to get the staff!" Xina snapped. 

"FIREBALL," a wave of darkness batted dissolved Amethyst's fireball. The skeleton was now little more than a floating skull and arms. The rest of its body had been sucked into the flow of magic somehow. 

There was a sudden rumbling that knocked all three living warriors to the ground, and then had them scrambling up to avoid getting hit. Xalan cursed that there wasn't anything he could do as he avoided repetive blasts of power. Into the room from the otherside, Zangulus and Jolrael tumbled in, still fighting a stalemate. Jolrael had tried to blind the hunter, and had gotten around his will enough to at least dim the vision. Overall though, now that Zangulus wasn't playing around, his skill made up the difference. 

Xalan moved to help Jolrael and then noticed a section of ceiling about to come down on Tinuviel where she was following them. The kage-kitsune rushed and pushed her out of the, wondering if that was going to be all that he was doing this battle. 

"The elf!" the skull shouted as its arms disappeared. A bolt of darkness launched itself at her and Xalan. 

"Tinu down!" Jol shouted as he reached out with his mind and intercepted the attack. The sudden conflict sent him reeling, and he was pulled away from his duel with Zangulus. 

"The place is falling down," Janus shouted as he appeared. "I think the dragon has already been crushed in the rubble. 

"Val?!" Xina hesitated in her current rush to get the staff that had cluttered to the ground. Zangulus turned away from the psychic Gabriev and made his own rush for the staff, snatching it from the ground. 

"Thanks for the help!" he shouted as he launched himself out the tower window. Xina rushed over and saw him descending smoothly on a blanket of darkness extending below the point of the blade. "But my mistress awaits!" 

"Hey, Janus!" and if there was a hint of hostility in Xina's voice, they could attribute it too the hunter's escape. "Get over here and raywing me down!" The sorcerer acquiesed quickly. 

"Xina-san wait for us!" 

"None of you will escape!" the skull shouted, despite the lack of a jaw bone. A wave of darkness launched at the pair at the window. 

"Stow it!" Xina shouted as she jumped at the window following the sorcerer. She formed a force bubble between her and the undead. The bubble, looking like a sphere of concentrated light held as the darkness shattered against it. Tinuviel watched and arched an eyebrow at the reaction. 

"I will return!!" the undead Roquen promised as the last of its skull finally vanished and his spirit was pulled to wherever it would be stored for his final transformation. 

"Xina!" Xalan rushed for the window, but the wall caved in around it, blocking that path. 

"We have to get out of here now!" Jolrael shouted. The swordsman grabbed a thinking Tinuviel and rushed for the other window. Immediately outside he enacted a levitation to carry him above the path of falling stones. 

"Xalan-san," Amethyst pleaded to the kage-kitsune who was trying to dig through the rubble as the rest of the tower was crumbling around him. "We can't help her if we die here." 

"Let's go," Xalan agreed. 

"RAYWING!!!" Amethyst shouted, and then navigated through the falling masonry to join Jolrael and Tinuviel outside. 

"Where are they?" Xalan asked. Craning about for any movement he could see below. He couldn't see his sister, the sorcerer or the hunter they were chasing. What he could see didn't improve his mood. From the fields about the crumbling tower, skeletons and shades rose up in ranks and began marching south. 

"They're heading for Zephilia," Amethyst said. "There are so many of them!" 

"Zephilia is well known for repelling all attacks against them," Jol noted. "And nobody really knows how." 

"You know, I bet a weapon of light would be useful when that thing comes back," Tinuviel noted absently. 

"But where do you find one of those?" Amethyst asked. Below them the rubble shifted. 

"I can't see any sign of them," Xalan said, trying to look through the twisted trees. 

"Where's that damn sorcerer!" Val's dragon form roared. 

"Val-kun!" Tinuviel shouted. They landed near the rubble. "Oh, we have to get you out of there!" 

"That sorcerer is after Xina, where are they." 

"They went after the staff," Xalan muttered as he started trying to clear the rubble. 

"Oh I can get out myself," the dragon sniped. "Just go after Xina." 

"No, you can't," Jol noted. "I suspect you were in human from when this all fell on you, and you're a lot more hurt than you're acting." 

"But Xina..." 

"Will have to take care of herself for now," Xalan said. "We have other problems." Xalan and Amethyst worked to physically clear the rubble, while Jol moved boulders telekinetically until Amethyst could get to a position that she could reach Val's injuries and heal them. 

"They'll be heading for Zephilia and civilization," Jol said as Amethyst completed the healing. "If you can get us there ahead of the dead, maybe we'll see them along the way." 

"I don't like this." 

"Nobody does, Val-san," Amethyst said.   
  
  
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	26. Janus' Comeuppance

  
Slayers Born  
  
  
  
Janus' Comeuppance  
  
  
  
Xina looked back through the forest to where the tower had stood. Where, for all she knew Val and everyone else were buried under tons of stone. She hadn't thought about that particular result. She'd had too things on her mind, getting Janus away from everybody, and going after Zangulus. So of course now she was on her own with someone she had every reason to believe was out to kill her.  
The sorcerer hadn't made a move yet, hadn't even tried to capture her. He still wanted something from her that he wouldn't get if she knew he was an enemy. It was probably the staff, after all he did need her to track the hunter now that they'd found the trail again. Xina's mother and brother may have been much better hunters than her, but this noseless human was completely incompetent.  
"We're getting close," Xina said tightly. "I think we might catch up to him within the hour." At least they had left behind the really bizarre terrain a day or two ago.  
"Do you think that you could get the staff from him on your own?" Xina looked at him and thought here we go.  
"I probably could," Xina asserted, lying through her teeth. "And I could move faster without you, that's for sure. Can't track in that raywing of yours." Janus's expression didn't appear to change on first glance, but Xina saw his eyes narrow at the implication that he was a burden.  
"Then why don't get the staff and come back here," Janus suggested. "If you get any trouble just drop it and run."  
"Thanks for the vote of confidence," she said playfully.  
"You are perfectly capable of defending yourself, whatever your brother says." The sorcerer tried to sound comforting, but his eyes were calculating. "Still perhaps I can give you a little aid." He took hold of her sword, mumbled something and then shouted "Astral Vine!" Suddenly the sword was glowing, temporarily enchanted.  
"Thanks," Xina said softly, hiding the predatorial smile in her head. He was making his move. The kage-kitsune rushed off into the forest.  
  
"Those monsters are going to be here any day now," Xalan argued. "We don't really have time to go looking for something on a rumor that she may have heard."  
"We'll be just fine," Amethyst assured him. "All we have to do is tell someone in Zephilia that an army of undead is coming and we'll have plenty of help."  
~This gets Tinuviel out of danger~ Xalan turned to look at Jolrael. The swordsman didn't appear to even be paying attention to him. ~And if you find something you'll be able to do more than push people out of the way of attacks.~  
"Oh, I wish Val-kun had stayed," I'll bet he could have gotten us there faster than walking." This didn't rub off well on either Jol or Xal. Soon after landing, Val had taken off again to go back for Xina. The fact that had left behind Xalan had him more than just annoyed. Jolrael's reasons for being annoyed with the dragon were even more obvious.  
"You're sure this Celina person knows where to find a weapon of light?"  
"Well she and her friend certainly seem to know a lot about magic and stuff, had a nice long conversation with them one day."  
"When was this?" Tinuviel rolled her eyes up and began mumbling to herself.  
"Twelve years ago," she said finally. "I think."  
"Great," Xalan muttered. "I'm following a lead that's more than half as old as I am. Be careful," he said to Amethyst.  
"I've been trained by one of the best swordsmen and shamans in the world," she said proudly. "I'll be fine."  
"Now what was I talking about when I left last time," Tinuviel asked herself as she followed Xalan walking east and south. "Mirrors, some sort of relic."  
"I think we'll find a town off this way," Jol pointed. "But what's to guarantee that they don't just attack us on sight?"  
"Why would they attack a Princess of Sailoon?"  
"I don't know, because Zephilia is an isolationist country with a reputation for swallowing elite assassins and warriors?"  
"I'm sure they'll recognize that we're here to help them."  
"If not, do you have a raywing ready?"  
  
Zangulus looked back, he thought he had heard something behind him.  
"Martina?" he called out. Then there was a flash of glowing enchanted steel, it came in fast but he was still able to block it easily.  
"I know that name," he looked and saw the girl from the tombs. "Mom complains about someone with that name all the time." Zangulus stood up and faced her.  
"Little girl, you're in over your head," he smiled as he drew his sword. "But I can't say I haven't looked forward to this." He slashed forward and she blocked with her blade, riposting a return strike.  
"You're just a dirty old man," Xina spat. "A grave robber."  
"You've gotten better," Zangulus complimented her. He stepped up his attacks, not going full out, but making it just hard enough to be entertaining. She stopped attacking and concentrated fully on defense, but that didn't last long either. The astral vine had strengthened her blade, but not well enough. Zangulus black blade shattered the weapon forcing Xina down to the ground.  
"No great hero is coming to your rescue now," he said standing over her.  
"Turn over the staff and the girl to me!" Zangulus whirled around to see a fifteen year old girl holding a sword. The bounty hunter narrowed his eyes and recognized her as a mazoku.  
"My mistress wants them, and no demon is going to stand in my way."  
"You think you can stand against the General of Dynast Grausherra!" The eternal teenager launched blast at the mortal swordsman, and saw it deflected off by his enchanted blade. They circled each other cautiously and then started slashing at each other with their blades, neither noticing that the items they were fighting over had left the area.  
After several minutes a shockwave knocked down both opponents.  
"Get away from my minion, you vile little brat," Sherra looked up from where she had been thrown and saw green haired woman standing between her and Zangulus.  
"I don't know," Sherra said. "So you can't have been mazoku long."  
"Where's that girl!" the bounty hunter yelled. Sherra scanned about and noticed that both girl and staff had left. Sherra cursed herself for underestimating the girl, especially considering her now confirmed heritage. Her agent had played out that little seed soon after joining the girl's party.  
"I'll get you two later!" she shouted as she teleported away.  
  
Janus was surprised when Xina appeared out of the forest carrying the staff.  
"You..." before he could finish saying anything she had knocked him backwards and was holding him down.  
"Don't try to cast anything," she ordered. "You killed Val didn't you?"  
"How could you..."  
"Save it!" Xina snapped. "I've known you were after me since you mentioned my mother's name." The sorcerer smiled.  
"The dragon brought the ceiling down on himself," he told her. "But I would have killed him eventually anyway." Xina restrained herself from tearing him to pieces then and there.  
"And who is Dynast Grausherra?" she asked tightly.  
"One of the Dark Lords," he answered. "So don't think that you'll be able to win, even if you beat me."  
"What do you mean by if I..."  
"DILL BRAND!!" Both were blown into the air and landed roughly on their backs. Xina was standing on her feet as Janus cast from where he fell.  
"DISFANG!!" The shadow dragon formed and reached out toward a smiling Xina.  
"That was very stupid," she told him. As the dragon passed by seeking her own shadow, she stepped into it. The shadow dragon was momentarily confused by its inability to find a target. Then, to Janus's horror, it turned on itself and began ripping into his shadow, and consequently, him.  
As the sorcerer's torn body fell to the ground Xina leaped out of the shadow and rolled to her feet.  
"That'll teach you to try and scam a Metallium," Xina spat as she started walking away from the traitor's dead body.  
"You're not nearly as good as you think you are," Xina turned to face the teenaged mazoku she had seen earlier. "Too bad Xellos wasn't around to teach you better." Xina hefted her staff nervously.   
  
  
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	27. Sort of Related

  
Slayers Born  
  
  
  
Sort of Related  
  
  
  
Tinuviel was walking in front of Xalan, in clear view, where he could see   
everything that she did. There was a very practical reason for this, he   
didn't to end up with a hair cut like Xina's. Or worse, considering the ever   
curious elf already had a hair sample. In fact his traveling companion was   
of greater concern to him than potential enemies. Enemies he could fight,   
but Tinu was a sort of natural disaster waiting to happen. She never waited   
long.  
Xalan had never really taken full advantage of his mazoku-born endurance,   
or really appreciated it, until travelling with Tinuviel. Being able to   
operate perfectly fine on about an hour of sleep a day was certainly a plus,   
though he dread what might eventually happen in that one hour. The one   
consolation he had was that Tinuviel's presence seemed to mollify the various   
humans they met on the road. Not as well as the obviously royal Amethyst,   
but well enough to avoid trouble.  
Xalan occupied his mind as they traveled with trying to figure out why   
Jol was so taken with the girl. It kept his mind off what might be happening   
to remainder of his friends. Right about now Amethyst and Jolrael were   
probably facing an army of dead creatures with whatever force they could   
muster from Zephilia. As for Xina, she was playing at fighting Zangulus   
until whoever Janus had signaled arrived to distract the hunter.  
"Are you sure they live around her somewhere," Xalan asked. "I don't   
really see how you can be sure this is the region."  
"Hmm? What?" Xalan sweatdropped.  
"This Celina person, are you sure we're in the right place?"  
"I have no idea." Xalan facefaulted.  
"What do you mean by that?" he asked, climbing back up on his staff.  
"What do I mean by what?"  
"What do you mean that you have no idea if we're in the right place."   
Xalan prefered to have a plan for things, this random hopping around was too   
unprepared for his tastes.  
"Well, they're in some little town called Zenla, which they said was the   
far eastern part of Zephilia," Tinuviel thought about it some more as she set   
an odd looking rock into one of her pouches.  
"So you have no idea where we are, or where we are heading." Xalan knew   
how to find his way back to where they'd split from Amethyst and Jol, but   
that would be admitting defeat. Not mention it was probably a battle zone by   
now.  
"That's not true."  
"Okay where are we then?"  
"About a mile from that place," she pointed. Xalan looked and saw the   
top of the building peaking out over a hill.  
"Let go of my tail," he said without turning around.  
"But..."  
"Just let go of my tail, please." Tinuviel let go of his tail and sighed   
frustratedly. It was only a few minutes later that they were at the   
building, which turned out to be an inn on the edge of a small town. Xalan   
let Tinuviel go in first, less chance of starting a ruckus that way. Once   
inside he found an empty table and sat down, he considered deepening the   
shadows about him a little, but nobody really batted an eye at his entrance,   
so he didn't bother.  
"Welcome to the Happy Candle, can I take your order?" Xalan looked up to   
the waitress.  
"Mom!?!" he gasped in surprise before he noticed several differences   
between this woman and his mother's human form. There was no streak of   
silver in her hair, for one thing, and she seemed younger by a few years.   
That said a lot, his mother claimed memories that Jol and Amethyst claimed   
were sixty years old, but looked she only about twenty-five. Finally, there   
was an innate quietness and passivity in the woman that was completely unlike   
his volatile mother.  
"Gomen," the waitress said nervously. "What did you say?"  
"I'm sorry, you look like...." Xalan started.  
"Celina-san, its you!" Tinuviel said suddenly.  
"Hmm," the red-head examined the pair and tried to figure out where she   
knew the girl from. Then it hit her. "Oh, you're that girl from a few years   
ago. You disappeared in the middle of dinner, what happened."  
"I don't know," Tinuviel sounded confused. "One moment I was studying   
this odd tree behind your inn, the next thing I know the tree was in   
Beleriand along with me." Xalan sweatdropped.  
"But I didn't feel any magic," Celina said. "Are you..."  
"Excuse me, but if you're this Celina person," Xalan suggested. "She   
says you know where to find a weapon of light."  
"Why would you be interested in that? What good is it?"  
"We need it to fight this undead thing that wants to rule the world,"   
Tinuviel piped up. "He's of somewhere probably recuperating from the   
transformation, it was a really interesting spel. What little I caught of it   
at the end anyway..."  
"Have you tried talking to this monster and settling your affairs that   
way?" Hearinng such sentiments come from such a close copy of his mother was   
thoroughly freaking Xalan out.  
"I don't think that would work," Xalan said nervously. Then a customer   
called out and Celina blushed furiously as she looked towards the call.  
"Gomen, but I have to go," she bowed formally. "I guess we can talk   
about this when the common room closes." She hurried away, arms swinging in   
a demure fashion that further seperated her from Xalan's mother.  
"She's...nice," Xalan said. Then thought to himself, "Almost freakishly   
so."  
"She's a really powerful sorceress," Tinuviel explained then. "That's   
why she looks so young."  
"Celina asked me to get your order, since she forgot," they looked up at   
the sound of the shy voice. Before them was a tall woman dressed in a manner   
to hide what Xalan suspected was an incredibly shapely body.  
"Hello, Gracia-san," Tinuviel waved cheerfully.  
"Tea, please," Xalan ordered, silently grieving that nobody made tea as   
well as Filia did. "And lamb, as rare as you can make it." Tinuviel   
couldn't decide what exactly she wanted and settled for a sample of   
everything.  
It was an hour or two later that common room was cleared out and Celina   
and Gracia came back to sit down with Xalan and Tinuviel.  
"Excuse me, but what is your name?" Celina asked the kage-kitsune.  
"Xalan Metallium." The women seemed to flinch at the name.  
"I thought all the Metallium mazoku were destroyed."  
"I'm only half mazoku, my mother is..."  
"Lina Inverse?" Celina interrupted nervously. "Gomen, but you said she   
looked like me right?"  
"Yes....are you related to my mother at all?"  
"Well, maybe you should ask her that." She said nervously and quietly.  
"Oh, this is Lina-san's son," Gracia declared suddenly. "What does he   
want?"  
"We're here for that weapon of light you said you had," Tinuviel said   
suddenly.  
"Isn't that up in our room some where?" Celina asked Gracia.  
"Your room, singular?" Xalan asked, and both women blushed. Xalan   
blinked and then blushed furiously himself. "Never mind."  
"Well, let's go up and look for it," Tinuviel declared, and the other   
three were greatful for the subject change. The room in question was quiet   
large, in fact it seemed to be a lot bigger than it should have been. There   
was no bed though, it seemed more like a study of some sort. Xalan opened   
the door to what he thought was a closet to find a hallway. A long hallway   
with a row of three doors on either side and one door at the end. Two   
magical lights hung along the hallway on either side.  
"Umm, what's going on?"  
"Oh," Celina seemed embarrassed. "We played with the dimensional   
boundaries a little."  
"How are we supposed to find anything in this," Xalan asked as he opened   
another door to find a vast freezing room full of meats and other such foods.   
He couldn't see the far wall. "This could take days."  
"Well, we don't have to go in all the rooms," Gracia suggested quietly as   
the two women opened the door at the end of the hallway. Xalan noted, but   
tried not to, the single double bed in the rather plain bedroom. Tinu didn't   
have the same sense of tact or even much common sense.  
"You know, I've been wondering why you have just the one..."  
"Here it is," a furiously blushing Celina said. She picked up a gauntlet   
of some sort with three sockets above the wrist.  
"That's the light weapon?"  
"Hmm, this?" Celina looked at it a moment. "Wait a minute, you're right.   
Light come forth." Three blades of light extended from the sockets, from a   
claw gauntlet.  
"Oh my," Gracia said. "We've been using it as a torch." Xalan   
facefaulted.   
  
  
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	28. Discordian Chili

  
Slayers Born  
  
  
  
Discordian Chili  
  
  
  
Amethyst and Jolrael were moving faster than either of the twins. It didn't take long for them to come to a town. It didn't look all that different from other towns. Merchants and peasants going about their day to day lives while a modest number of soldiers hung about, obstensibly on guard duty. The only really odd thing about the town was that nobody batted an eye when Amethyst and Jolrael showed up at the edges of town.  
"I told you they wouldn't attack such obvious defenders of justice as us," Amethyst noted.  
"What is it with all those mini-speeches?"  
"You know, I never really figured out that myself." Jol face faulted. "My white magic mentor made it part of the curricullum."  
"And if you never found a reason for why they were necesssary," Jol started. "WHY do you keep doing it?"  
"Habit." Jol face faulted again. "Are you feeling okay? You didn't hurt your legs or anything did you?"  
"I'm fine," Jol said. "There we go, he looks like somebody official." Amethyst looked to where a soldier with a more formal looking uniform was chastising a pair of soldiers now standing at attention.  
"Sir, hello, sir!" Amethyst called out running towards the man.  
"Amethyst, wait," Jol called out running along behind her.  
"We are here to warn you of ..." Amethyst stopped as suddenly there were nearly five sword and spear points directed her way and about two dozen spells being readied across the town square. "What did I do?" she asked nervously. The officer looked her over suspiciously, glancing over at Jolrael who was facing similar odds.  
"Okay, you might get us," Jol admitted. "But we'll take a lot of you with us."  
"And I don't think those swords are going to do you much..."  
"Astral Vine!" all the weapons suddenly glowing. Jol and Amethyst sweatdropped.  
"....umm there's an dark army of undead coming out of the northlands to spread evil and corruption across the land?"  
"Yeah right, you're just a pair of mercenaries."  
"We really don't care if you pass through," another commoner said. "But we don't like people thinking they can push us around just because...."  
"Stand down!" the officer called out. "You are Princess Amethyst Lina Sailoon-Greywords?"  
"Greywords-Sailoon," Amethyst corrected. "Sailoon is the actual family name. Why?"  
"Your parents travelled with Lina Inverse before she 'died', is that right?"  
"But Lina-sama isn't..." Amethyst's eyes snapped wide and she shut her mouth.  
"Lina is alive?" this elicited a murmur of excited muttering.  
"I'm not sure she'd wa..." Amethyst snapped her mouth shut again. Jol sighed.  
"Yes, Lina's alive, but she prefers that people think she's dead." The swordsman admitted.  
"And you are?"  
"Jolrael Gabriev."  
"Hey, didn't Lina-chan travel with a Gabriev?" somebody asked.  
"That was my father..."  
"Really?" Suddenly all the weapons and prepared spells disappeared. Jol and Amethyst watched cautiously for a moment before they were mobbed by a horde of friendly faces. "So they're friends of Lina's" "Hey, welcome to Zephilia." "Lina is alive you say." "How is she." Both Amethyst and Jol sweatdropped.  
"Didn't you hear us say that there's an army of undead heading this way?!"  
"Time enough for that later.""Yeah, there's always something attacking us around here." "Hey, who's going to tell Luna?" Total silence and massive sweatdrops around the town.  
"Who's Luna?" Jol asked nervously.  
"Lina-chan's sister." Somebody answered. "She's the Knight of Ceipheed."  
"Lina-sama's sister....is the Knight of Ceipheed?" Amethyst repeated.  
"What is it with that family?" Jol asked no one in particular.  
"Hey, I know," somebody shouted. "Why don't we send them to go tell Luna?" Jol and Amethyst sweatdropped. "We can't do that to them without giving them a good meal first." "They can come to eat at my restaurant." "Your restuarant? Ha that's a laugh." Jol and Amethyst looked about and realized that fully two thirds of the buildings they could see were restaurants of some sort.  
"Umm, is all Zephilia like this?" Amethyst asked someone at random as the arguing continued with cries of "Hot Pot!!" and "Roast Beef!!"  
"Well, only the core really," the woman answered. "Some of those fringe villages are just boring."  
"I see," Amethyst sweatdropped.  
"I wonder if anybody here cooks chili?" Total silence again as everybody turned to look at Jolrael.  
"You don't mean...DISCORDIA'S chili....do you?" someone asked. Jol sweatdropped.  
"You've heard of it?" Everybody nodded quietly. "That's one of my favorite dishes! Can anybody here cook it?"  
"What's 'chili'?" Amethyst asked.  
"Discordia!" somebody called.  
"What?" A rather petulant female voice called out.  
"Somebody wants to try your chili!"  
"Really," there was the sound of a low, mischievious chuckle as short girl wearing spectacles pushed her way to the visitors. "You want to try my chili?"  
"Yeah, I love that stuff," Jol said.  
"Hey, are you a copy or something?" Amethyst asked as she looked through the girl's spectacles.  
"What, no! Why do you ask that?"  
"Did you know that you have two different colored eyes?"  
"Yes," the girl said through gritted teeth. "Now come on, if you want chili, follow me." The girl led them to an odd building covered in geometric patterns that continued on with out change about the whole of each surface. Each individual surface had a different pattern, and they were gathered together without much concern for the order apparent within themselves. Every chair, table, shelf, even plates, books and plants, were covered with the same geometric patterns of lines.  
"Just sit there and we'll see how much chili you can take."  
"I'll just have coffee please," Amethyst said sheepishly.  
An hour later Amethyst was on her fifth cup of coffee and Jolrael was on his, much to Discordia's irritation, twentieth helping of chili. Outside the villagers watched on in a state of near awe.  
"He can actually eat it!" "How is that possible?" "He must not have any taste buds at all." "That stuff can burn a mazoku's mouth, what are you talking about?"  
"I don't see what all the fuss is about," Amethyst said then. "Can I try some?" The girl who stood about half a foot shorter than Amethyst glared at her a put down one of two bowls of chili in front of her.  
"Its good isn't it?" Jolrael asked as Amethyst took a taste. She nodded as she started eating it a little faster. Then the spice hit her and she dropped her spoon. She was through the crowd outside in blur and at the fountain drinking as much water as she could. Jolrael sweatdropped at his companions reaction to the chilly. "Mom does that too." He scratched his head as if he couldn't figure it out.  
"Hmm, there's nothing wrong with the chili then," Discordia noted. "And I've been making it hotter each time." The crowd outside sweatdropped and looked to where Amethyst still had her head stuck in the water.  
"I noticed!" Jolrael yelled out happily. Discordia growled, the crowd face faulted.  
"Luna shouldn't be a problem for HIM," somebody said. A panting Amethyst appeared in the doorway then.  
"Can we go talk to this Luna person now?" she asked as tears elicited by the chili's spices rolled down her cheeks.  
"Yeah, get them out of here before I get annoyed." The villagers remembered the last time Discordia got annoyed. For a month the town's food supply was bombarded with her spices and nobody could eat at their accustomed speed.  
"Yes, she's in the next town over," somebody called out desperately. "Just follow the road and you'll get there soon enough."  
"But what about the army of undead?" Jol asked.  
"We can handle it if it comes here!"  
"But don't you want to here about Lina?"  
"We get the news later!"  
"But...but...what about all this chili!?"  
"Come on Jolrael-san," Amethyst sighed. "I'm sure you can have as much chili as you want later."  
  
An hour later they were approaching another town.  
"You could have let me finish that helping," Jol complained.  
"Jolrael-san, you don't usually act like this."  
"I don't usually get pulled away from all the chili I can eat."  
Then something large flew over them and passed along at incredible speed before crashing at the edge of the town ahead of them.  
"Hey, that was Val-san," Amethyst shouted. The next thing they saw was an explosion and then about fifteen or so seperate spells. They both sweatdropped.   
  
  
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	29. Xina meets Sherra

  
Slayers Born  
  
  
  
Xina meets Sherra  
  
  
  
"So what do you want to watch this for? She has no chance at all."  
"She has my staff again, the Shroud is weaker, I can talk."  
"But that's all you can do, and only a little at a time at that. Though I guess you can teach her the ins and outs when she comes over here."  
"I'll have passed on by the time she dies," he laughed.  
"And how can you be sure of this, you seem rather stubborn about that subject."  
"Sore wa himitsu desu."  
  
The mazoku smiled as Xina prepared for battle.  
"You don't use a staff the same way you use a sword, little-girl," the mazoku smiled.  
"Look who's talking, you're worse developed than I am." Sherra stomped her feet angrily.  
"Shut up!" she shouted. "Its not my fault that Dynast didn't wait until I got older."  
~You were freezing to death, how long could he have waited?~  
"YOU SHUT UP TOO!!!" Sherra snapped at her sword. "Forget the talk I'm going to kill her NOW!!" The mazoku was suddenly surrounded with a cold white light as she blurred forward with a speed that just barely left Xina enough time to dodge. The light confused Xina, until she realized that her opponent wouldn't have a shadow as long as she held that aura.  
"Oh shit," Xina breathed as the mazoku turned around a launched a blast. Xina raised a field of force in front of her and the mazoku's blast collided with it sending both constructs into shattered fragments of energy and light.  
~Form shadow, meld shadow~  
"Huh?" then Sherra flashed into existence behind her. Xina instinctually surrounded herself in darkness as she dodged forward into a roll. The sword flashed over her.  
"Where's the magic you Inverse's are so famous for?" the mazoku sniped. "You can't cast it can you?" Desperate, Xina melded with her own darkness and snaked it out to another shadow. She came back into existence there after a blink of time.  
"So that's what he meant." Xina mumbled. She encased Sherra in a force bubble, only to watch the mazoku teleport out with a laugh. Xina saw the mazoku appear above her and launch a barrage of blue circular energy blasts. Sherra watched as an amorphous shadow rocketed up into the sky.   
The mazoku couldn't see through the gate into the pocket dimension formed by Xina's meld, but she didn't need to. The young looking mazoku laughed as another bubble of shimmering force, almost like moonlight, launched from the shadow.  
"Trying to trap me again?" Then the bubble shattered into numerous spears of force all heading for her. Sherra choked on her laughter at the surprise and then released a blast in the shard's path that scattered them.  
Xina knew she wasn't really flying, she was just moving the gate back to the real world higher into the air. Still, it was a wonderous sensation. She liked this, usually she was limited by where a shadow was, and if something happened to get rid of the shadow, the real object falling down for example, then she was kicked back out. This new twist opened a whole world of possibilities, which she vowed to explore. Assuming she survived this battle.  
Sherra snarled as one stray shard slashed past her, cutting her face open. Xina gulped as an energy disk passed into her little pocket dimension and exploded. The force of the blast forced Xina flying out of the floating shadow, and suddenly she was falling.  
"Any ideas!?" she shouted at the staff.  
~Let the dragon catch you.~  
"The what?" then something swooped under her and she landed hard, but safely on a great reptillian back.  
"Hey you! Get back here!" Sherra shouted flying after the dragon that had rescued her opponent.  
"Val?" Xina gasped. "Is that you?"  
"Yeah, who's the brat and where's that traitor?"  
"Janus is dead," Sherra snapped a barrage of energy blasts at them. Xina managed to blcok most of them with a wall that quickly crumbled under the onslaught. Xina felt Val shudder as the blasts she couldn't block struck him. "I can't block them all!" She shouted in apology."  
"Its nothing serious," the dragon roared. Xina grasped for dear life onto his back as Val swooped around to face Sherra and release a fiery breath at their attacker. Sherra teleported out just a mite too slow and appeared behind them looking a little charred.  
"I've killed dragons before!" she snapped before attacking again. One of the blasts that got through Xina's shield as it crumbled again, struck the dragon in the head. Val began descending rapidly toward a town below, obviously knocked senseless if only momentarily.  
"Val!!! WAKE UP!!! VAL!!!" The dragon's eyes blinked open, and he managed at least enough maneuvering to avoid landing in the town and crushing a building or two. So when Xina was tossed clear, at least she didn't have to deal with falling rubble. Xina slammed into a wall and was dazed for a moment, barely managing to climb out of the hole she had made flying through the stone.  
"I can't believe a weakling like you had the great Xellos as a father!" Sherra laughed.  
"Its a mazoku!" somebody yelled. "Get her!" Xina decided she must still be shaking off the hit, because she could have sworn she heard five different voices shout "FLARE ARROW!" and maybe four other such spells.  
"Damn minor spellcasters! Get out of my face!"  
"A PMSing, adolescent mazoku!!" Someone shouted.  
"WHAT!!?!" Sherra started turning her attention to the various sorcerers the town had somehow managed to produce against her. Xina stumbled out into the street and saw that Val was unconscious, at least she hoped he was just unconscious. She wasn't feeling good herself, her head hurt, she was dizzy, and her stomach kept wanting to toss up whatever food was left inside. She didn't really care at the moment though.   
~You're injured, let them handle her, they're enough of them.~  
"I'm not helpless," Xina gasped, clutching her head.  
~There is a line between foolishness and bravery.~ Xina ignored the voice she suspected was her father.  
"HEY YOU LITTLE BRAT!!!" Xina spat forcing herself to stand straight and still, despite her desire just sit down and rest for a little while. "YOU WANT TO SEE WHAT THE DAUGHTER OF LINA INVERSE AND XELLOS METALLIUM CAN DO!!! FINE!!" She unleashed a wave of force spears mixed with shadows, obscuring the barrage.   
Sherra laughed and blasted the spears away as before and then noticed that Xina had vanished. The mazoku turned around and saw one of the shadows hanging above her in time to see a force spear slash down and into her arm. The mazoku was carried down into the ground where she was pinned like an insect in a collection. The mazoku waited for the death blow to come, then the shadow faded away and Xina fell limply out of the sky. Sherra smiled as the force spear vanished and she stood up, left arm hanging limply while it healed.  
Sherra saw some waitress raywing up and catch the fainted kage-kitsune.  
"Gee everybody can cast magic in this place," Sherra complained.  
~LUNA!!!~ she looked to her sword confused.  
"What?"  
~LUNA!!! LUNA INVERSE!!! THE KNIGHT OF CEIPHEED!!! THE BLOODY KNIGHT OF CEIPHEED!!~ Sherra's eyes shrank into her skull as the purple-haired waitress landed on the ground carrying Xina. All the other villagers shrank back from her in barely withheld terror.  
"Oh shit, I'm in trouble," Sherra whispered.  
"I work there," Luna pointed to where Xina had been through the wall, and Val and had crashed through what may have been a garden at one time. The woman did not sound happy.  
"Bye now." Sherra said suddenly, before vanishing away, far, FAR away.   
  
  
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	30. Luna

  
Slayers Born  
  
  
  
Luna  
  
  
  
"Where is a healer?" Luna asked cooly, scanning the crowd. As her gaze passed everybody founnd somewhere else to look. Luna was about to arbitrarily pick some one out of the crowd when she noted the two figures running in towards town at a blur. At that rate and this distance it would take them several minutes to get to the town, assuming she left them to their own devices.   
"Raywing," she sounded almost bored as the bubble of air surrounded the other two strangers, at the insane range they were away from her, and then pulled them forward at an equally insane speed.  
"aaaaaaaaaaaaaAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!" Then she stopped the air bubble about two yards from her. The pair inside were still screaming.  
"Excuse me, can either of you cast healing spells?" Luna said. They continued screaming, Luna narrowed her eyes. The air bubble rocketed up into the sky. Jolrael and Amethyst saw the day fade into night, and then they rocketed down again. By the time they got back down they were both trying to catch their breath. ""Shall we try this again? Are either of you a healer?"  
"Uh....I am," Amethyst whimpered.  
"Luna Inverse...I presume?" Luna arched an eyebrow, and mentally cut the Raywing spell. Amethyst and Jolrael blinked in the moment before gravity took hold and then fell the two feet to the ground. She set Xina on the ground, straightened her uniform and achieved an officious pose.  
"You heal, you explain, wait," Jol snapped his mouth closed. She turned to the surreptitiously dissipating crowd "You four!" everybody turned to face her and sighed as they discovered that she didn't mean them. Or trembled when they realized that they had been picked. "Fix that."  
"Umm, Luna-sama?" the purple haired waitress regarded the speaker, who flinched. "Is there any chance that this won't take long, lunch rush will be..." She looked up away from him and back at the crowd.  
"Everybody else go home," she shouted. "And stay there until you hear otherwise. You were discussing the lunch rush?" she asked the nervous innkeeper.  
"No, everything is covered."  
"Good, gomen, Derek this should not take long," Luna assured him.  
"That's fine...take however much time you want," he bowed his way back from the irritated sorceress.  
"Now you, I take it you can explain what is going on here?"  
"In part," Jol nodded.  
"Then DO so," Luna whispered angrily.  
"I'm not casting recovery on Xina," Amethyst declared.  
"She does not seem badly injured," Luna protested.  
"But she's already exhausted," Amethyst said sheepishly. This woman really was terrifying, anybody with the power to use raywing like THAT was no one to be annoyed by the likes of her. "I don't know whether she's beyond the point of safety or not."  
"I can heal her a little," Jol suggested. Luna fixxed him with her coldest gaze yet.  
"Do you ever do anything, or do you just talk?" she asked. Jol edged around her to where Xina lay on the ground. They all heard the sound of Val waking up, Luna glanced in that direction and then at Amethyst. "Heal the dragon before he starts rampaging, unless you see a problem there as well."  
"Yes, Luna-sama," Amethyst bowed and walked to the dragon nervously.  
"Elven blood?" Luna asked as she saw Jolrael place a hand on Xina's forehead. She noted the lines of strain form on the young man's face. He didn't seem to have heard her question. "Excuse me, I asked you a question." Then he slumped back, breathing heavily.  
"Ow, my head," Xina moaned. "What...the mazoku brat!" She tried to sit up and succeeded in triggering her upset stomach. Jol managed to see it coming and turned her away from anybody. While Xina was purging herself of her hunting efforts earlier, Jol felt himself lifted up by the scruff of the neck and turned around to face Luna.  
"I asked you a question,"she repeated. "Are you..."  
"I heard you the first time," Jol snapped, recovering in some measure his normal attitude. "Judge for yourself." The fingers around his neck were forced back, and Luna betrayed a slight surprise.  
"Your arrogance is certainly pure elf," Luna said, causing Jol's eyes to snap wide. "Even if you look..."  
"Watch who you're calling an..." Jol was lifted up and held above the ground. Xina gasped from where she hung her head over her knees. The sorceress hadn't budged a muscle in casting the spell.  
"Don't try me, boy," she hissed. "Now what is going on here? Four strangers, one of them CLAIMING to be my sister's child..."  
"What do you mean claim..." Xina suddenly found herself unable to move, even talk. Luna noticed the dragon taking human form, but chose to ignore it. Amethyst ran from that direction and kneeled before the irritated sorceress.  
"Luna-sama, please, we don't mean any offense," Amethyst pleaded.  
"I've never tolerated impudence," Luna looked to the glaring Xina and noticed the silvery shimmer about her. As that occured she could feel the elf-blood countering her other set spell and lowering himself to the ground. She considered testing the other two as well, but it would seem over-zealous. There were other ways that such direct spells.  
Luna let the shimmer about Xina grow, she could have squashed the power like nothing, but she was curious. The light ate through the spell she had left quickly and then Xina could talk and move again.   
"Hmph, I suppose that next you'll be telling us to chop down a tree with a herring," she mumbled, Luna arched an eyebrow. The effort had taken a toll though. The fox girl started to waiver.  
"Xina, don't do that," Amethyst gasped and steadied the girl. "I'm not sure Jol can heal you again." The young chimera began healing Xina then, and soon the drain on Xina's resources caused by the spell made her faint again. Amethyst stopped momentarily afterword. "I dare to heal her no more."  
Luna sniffed and picked up the staff from where Xina had dropped it. She mumbled something under her breath and a light shimmered forth, and channeled through the staff. It revealed a familiar cloaked man that was glancing about himself curiously.  
"I should have known you'd sense me around," the translucent image said, in voice as if far away. Amethyst immediately recognized the man.  
"Xellos Metallium," she breathed in a whisper. Val and Jol looked at her shocked.  
"Its been nearly twenty years," Luna said. "And I know you're dead, why then, spirit, do you linger here and not pass on to whatever is in store for you?"  
"I worry about my family," he admitted.  
"No 'Sore wa himitsu desu'?" the ghost smiled.  
"Even such as you, sister, cannot give me voice and face for long in this world," he told her. "I have no time for my usual games. I have my children to consider."  
"Sister? She is my blood then?" The image flickered briefly, large blank spots appearing in its form. Luna regarded the unconscious half-mazoku doubtfully.  
"Yes," he answered. Then the flickering returned and the appearing and disappearing face frowned and started yelling. "It's ..ming....p..ce...f...t..oid...old...eed...mo...TIME!!!" and then he was gone totally. Just before the spirit vanished he seemed to be struggling to remain, adding his power to the sorceress's. After he vanished, even Luna had to drop to one knee.  
"That is never easy," she muttered standing up, since Phibrezzo's death the channels to realms of the dead had been harder to tap. A more permanent summoning would have required twisting the spirit and maddening it with pain until it was a foul undead thing. She suddenly regretted casting the spell, now the dead mazoku would be thoroughly weakened. "Come along, bring...my niece....with you." She refused to let these misgivings show themselves as she coldly turned from the children.  
"I hate to interrupt," Jol commented. He noticed Luna's glare. "I REALLY do, but there is the small matter of an undead army heading this way."  
"Oh please," Luna sighed, frustrated. "They are at least a week out at least, you underestimate your own speed. I would hear the full story soon, but first I have to work my shift." The three awake adventurers face faulted.  
  
"Well now you truly are useless. You won't be even able to talk for a long time yet."  
"I...can find...a...fill in."  
"Really? Why did you accept the summons? You didn't even get your message across."  
"I keep...telling you....Sore wa....himitsu...desu."   
  
  
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	31. Lunch

  
Slayers Born  
  
  
  
Lunch  
  
  
  
Xalan flinched and stopped in mid stride. He had known that Xina was in battle, but she had been handling herself well enough by the feel of it. Now she'd been hit hard again.  
"Is something wrong, Xalan-san?" Celina asked nervously.  
"My sister is in trouble," he said without doubt.  
"You can tell when she's hurt?" Tinuviel asked. "How very interesting, I wonder if the reverse is true." Xalan cringed at that phrase, he reached into his pouch and idly began playing some red jeweled amulet.  
"Excuse me, where'd you get that?" the one that looked like his mother asked. Xalan looked down.  
"Something Val brought from my mother," he said idly. "Its for sorcerers but Amethyst said something about not knowing the proper spells, I've been holding them since then." Gracia and Celina started whispering at each other and then turned smiling faces toward him.  
"Perhaps you should wear it." They suggested. "It enhances black magic, you're half-mazoku."  
"Hadn't thought of that," he shrugged. "Well, thanks for the food and the claws." Xalan said gesturing with the gauntlet over his right hand. "But now we definitely have to be going."  
"Of course, but come again some time, maybe bring your mother." Xalan sweatdropped at his mother's probable reaction to a passive copy of herself, unaware of exactly how accurate that thought was.  
"Maybe," he said, walking away. He turned to wave politely once before clipping one of the jeweled bracelets to his wrist. A series of black and silver energy bands passed over it as he fastened it, and the kage-kitsune felt a surge of power. "Whoah. They were right."  
He fastened the remaining amulets on and felt the same rush of power with each of them. As the rushes finally passed he noticed that his senses had suddenly sharpened, all of them. Xalan had to clear his head before his mind adapted and assimulated the new information, and then he knew in which direction Xina was.  
"Do you mind a piggy back ride, Tinu?" he asked. She looked him briefly for a moment and he knew she embarrassed before the blush even started to rise. "We can move faster that way."  
"H..hai," she stammered.  
"Good," he kneeled down and let her climb on his back. Then he stood up and started running. Fast. Then he had to jump over a person that had suddenly appeared in his way, and he didn't come down for nearly half a mile.   
Throughout the run Tinuviel hung tightly to his back, and he could tell what she was feeling. He would have expected blank terror, but, typical of Tinuviel, there was merely a sense of wonder and intense curiousity.  
He wouldn't get there for another couple of days, but he would get there quickly. And he knew that Xina was alive. All of his senses were primed and directed for the task he had always been best at. Hunting.  
  
"Why does my head still hurt?" Xina asked as she came to.  
"Because you keep passing out," Amethyst answered. "And I don't think your brother would like it if you died because I tried to cast recovery when I shouldn't have."  
"Was that sarcasm coming from you?" Xina asked. "I think I hit my head harder than I thought."  
"Then its a catching condition," Jol shrugged. "Because I heard it too."  
"I've been working on that line since we sat down," Amethyst complained. "Can't you at least pretend to be stumped for a response?" Jol and Xina stared at her in wide-eyed surprise, she sweatdropped.  
"Uh...where's that..." Luna appeared at their table and handed Xina a menu. She looked up at the sorceress in confusion.  
"And what will you be having today?" Xina's mouth hung open. Luna's eyes narrowed. "Seeing that your my sister's daughter, I assume you eat like your friend here." Xina continued to stare, Luna hmphed in frustration. She then reached forward and put a hand on her forhead, frowning. "How are you feeling? I have no gift for healing magic."  
"My head hurts," Xina whimpered as if she were eight years old again. The shock of seeing the powerful sorceress actually serving tables had been a little much.  
"I could try to heal her again," Amethyst suggested.  
"No, I want to talk to her," Luna said. She turned and walked to the obvious owner of the inn or tavern they were inside. "I'm taking my break."  
"Fine, go ahead," the man answered nervously.  
"This shouldn't take long," Luna pulled up a chair and placed it at the head of the slayers' table. "I am given to understand that you came here looking..." Xellos's staff flew across the room into her hand. "...for this."  
"That's mine," Xina reached for it across the table. Luna took the staff's tip and pushed her back into her seat and against the wall.  
"Please wait for me to ask you a question," Luna said. Then she twirled the staff and handed it to the irritated kage-kitsune. "I would like know...."  
"Well the staff was..." Amethyst found that her stone skin was suddenly inflexible as well as hard.  
"I know about Roquen, thank you," Luna said, then released her spell. "As I was saying, I would like to understand how YOU can be my niece."  
"What do you mean?" Xina asked.  
"But Luna-sama, you heard the...." Luna rolled her eyes as Val's head was smashed against the wall. Heard enough to daze, but nothing else.  
"I was talking to....Xina."  
"What do you mean how can I be your niece?" Jol looked like he was about to say something, Luna looked at him and he snapped his mouth shut.  
"Your sister and my dad met, fell in love..." she found her mouth forced closed. Luna reminded herself that the girl was still injured and that her normal methods of chastizement could result in something serious.  
"That is not what I meant," Luna explained patiently and tightly. "In case you have failed to notice, I am human, Lina was...is my full sister. When last I heard, your father at least looked human. So please explain why you don't."  
"You're not a shape changer?" Xina asked confused as the spell released her.  
"Shape changer?" Luna repeated. "One moment," She reached into her pocket and pulled out a coin. The sorceress turned it over in her hand and then it lifted up and drifted to Xina. The fox girl felt her arm pulled out and watched as her hand was pulled open. The coin dropped into her palm and then her hand closed.  
"What are you doing?" Xina asked, Luna just kept her spell's grip on Xina's hand. "That's starting to hurt. Quit it. Ouch, please, Luna-san, please LET GO OF MY HAND!!" She was really struggling by this point, and her friends were starting to move. Luna shrugged and released Xina's hand, letting the silver coin fall to the table. Xina snatched back her head, giving Luna only the barest glimpse of the angry red burn on her hand.  
"My sister is a werecreature?" Xina held back tears, glaring angrily at her aunt.  
"Lina-sama is a were-fox," Luna looked at Amethyst, who shifted nervously and added. "Luna-sama."  
"That explains why you can use the moon's power," Luna said. "And why your abilities are....unusual. Lucky girl."  
"I'm always getting beaten to a pulp," Xina grumbled. "How lucky can I be?"  
"I doubt that you would have survived with a father of any other race," Luna explained coldly. "Lycanthropy kills children."  
"Is there anything else you want to know?"   
"Not really," Luna said. "Though I suppose I should pay my sister a visit sometime soon."  
"Then we can go destroy the undead horde now?" Jolrael asked.  
"Of course," Luna said, standing up and checking her uniform.  
"Aren't you going to help?" Val asked.  
"Depends on whether its my day off or not," Luna answered. "Or if they come here." She shrugged.  
"I don't get it," Amethyst said. "You're the Knight of Ceipheed, shouldn't you be interested in saving the world?"  
"Are you demanding an explanation?" Luna asked through narrowed eyes.  
"No, never mind," Amethyst stammered. Luna nodded and walked to her boss.  
"I'll be back from my break in a moment."  
"H-hai." Luna walked into the hallway towards the kitchen. Unnoticed to everyone else she shimmered away. Holding the soul of the dragon god gave her access to powers usually closed to humans, such as teleporting. The sorceress appeared on the fields, on her own. She scanned about for a moment and then released her facade. The sorceress dropped to her knees and gasped.  
"Thank the HEAVENS, she's alive," she cried. She sobbed from the release of pent up emotions and repeated the pertinent thought. Quietly, almost as if she could make it true by saying it. "She's. Alive."  
Then Luna stoof up and recovered herself before teleporting back to the inn.  
"I'm back," she said coldly.   
  
  
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	32. Sisters

  
Slayers Born  
  
  
  
Sisters  
  
  
  
"Am I going the entire day going to sleep?" Xina asked as Amethyst healed her. Her eyes were just starting to flutter closed when Amethyst pulled her hand back from the girl's head.  
"I think you're fine now," Amethyst said. Xina yawned.  
"Really? And I'm not asleep....again?" she asked. They turned silent as Luna passed and set down food before them. Jol and Xina each got large sides of roast beef that would probably not last much longer than a few seconds around them. Val and Amethyst both got coffee. Then the sorceress left to serve other terror-stricken customers. Jol and Xina ignored her, staring starry eyed at the food in front of them.  
"What do we do from here?" Val asked, sipping the tea in front of him. Amethyst blinked as Jol and Xina began to tear into their food.  
"Uhh...well I suppose we finish our meal here," Amethyst said.  
"wmff ood fnd lln fst," Jol added. Xina paused for a brief moment to yawn.  
"What did you say?" Val asked  
"Where is Xalan anyway?" a yawning Xina asked before digging into the next helping of food that a nameless waitress, with nervous glances at Luna, brought to them.  
"He went to look for a weapon of light," Amethyst said. Then she added a little quietly "...with Tinuviel."  
"Yfff de," Jol mumbled.  
"Mmf bfthr nd," Xina yawned. "tht dff?"   
"What did they say?" Amethyst asked.  
"I've never bothered to learn how to understand that," Val answered as the swordsman and the kage-kitsune continued to decimate their meal. The only really bizarre thing was the in this place THEY were the normal, most of the other customers were eating the same way.  
"You don't eat much for a dragon," Amethyst noted.  
"How many dragons do you know?"  
"Point taken."  
"eh, eena, ou ng eef tht?" Jol asked Xina as he noticed her food starting to pile up.  
"Zzzzzzzz," everybody sweatdropped.  
"I suppose that we'll waiting here until she wakes up again," Val said. Amethyst giggled nervously.  
"Umm," they looked up to see the innkeeper in front of them. "Luna wants you to know that there are two empty rooms upstairs, and the food and rooms are..." he cringed as he continued. "...on the house."  
"Uhh...thank you, sir," Amethyst responded after a moment's surprise. "But I'm the Crown Princess of Sailoon, I'm sure my father would send a..."  
"Luna told me to make it on the house," he explained.  
"Oh," Amethyst said.  
"Well I'm finished, should we get Xina upstairs now?"  
"I've got her," Val said as she picked up the fox-girl, who unconsciously wrapped her arms around his neck and nuzzled against his shoulder. "Please don't let her wake up like this," the dragon prayed. Amethyst giggled.  
"Shall I escort you upstairs, milady," Jol asked bowing before the chimera and extending his hand. She giggled and curtsied, as well as she could in her travelling breeches. It was so hard to use a sword in a dress.  
"Certainly, Gabriev-sama," she said formally as she accepted the hand and they walked upstairs in parody of courtiers everywhere.  
"Silly children," Luna mumbled as she continued working. Much later she irritably folded up her apron and walked upstairs a moment. She could hear the four adventurers snoring inside. Looking about cautiously the sorceress vanished.  
  
"My lord, there is a woman wishing to speak to you," the guard panted nervously.  
"And who is this woman?" Zelgadis asked.  
"She...she.." the man collected his breath. "Appears to be a waitress, but she is a powerful sorceress and claims to be the Knight of..."  
"Ceipheed?" Zelgadis asked, his heart running cold. He remembered snatches of anecdotes Lina had told about her sister.  
"Yes sir, how did you know that?"  
"See her in..." a purple haired woman, still in waitress uniform walked into the study.  
"I'm here, I apologize for the clothes, but I just got off work," she explained. Zelgadis sweatdropped.  
"I suppose you're here about..."  
"Where is my sister?"  
"Lina's terrified of you," Zelgadis noted. "And she doesn't like company at the best of times. Now probably wouldn't..." Zelgadis barely raised a shield in time to resist the blast of magic. Luna rolled her eyes and the shield cracked and shattered. Zelgadis found himself flattened against the wall.  
"I didn't ask if it would be a good time," she said, ignoring the guards behind her. "I asked where she was."  
"Why should I tell you?" Zelgadis asked. "I've faced dark lords in my time."  
"I have news of my niece," she said simply, after calculating that he wouldn't betray her sister.  
"I thought you may have met her children," Zelgadis hmphed. "So why not tell me, and I'll pass the message on to her."  
"Because I also would like to speak to my sister," Zelgadis's eyes narrowed. "I swear not to harm her."  
"She went home, should be there by now, they call it Kitsune Forest, now," he answered after a long moment's silence. "It's to the East of here, about three days by dragon flight."  
"That would put her near where Filia ul Copt resides," Luna mused. "Suddenly that dragon's presence makes sense. My thanks." Then she turned around and left, the guards followed her around a corner and found nothing.  
  
Lina absent mindedly dipped her furred arms into the water to splash it up into her face. In the week she was gone, a small bandit force had tried to set up shop in HER forest. She'd spent the better part of an hour hunting down and tearing the scum to pieces. She whuffed in frustration as she imagined the difficulty of getting all that blood out of her hunting leathers.  
As Lina stepped into the water fully she took her human form, skin being much easier to clean than fur.  
Lina was coming to the conclusion that she'd have to replace them. This wasn't an unpleasant prospect, the meat from the deer she hunted for leather was quite tasty. She was thinking this while every so often submerging herself in the river, and was just going over the number of places she could find the right kind of deer right now.  
"Lina?" the were-fox froze in the middle of scrubbing a stubborn spot on her arm. She stared straight out into space and the hairs on the back of her neck stood on end. There was suddenly a new scent in the air, one that was familiar but which she'd never been around since becoming a were-fox.  
"Onesan?" she asked nervously, turning around. Standing before her was her older sister, no older than she had seemed when Lina finally left home all those years ago. "Is that..." Then Luna did something that completely surprised Lina, who was somewhat expecting to be sent into the stratosphere a la raywing. She stepped forward and embraced her sister in a relieved hug.  
"Onesan?" Lina repeated, startled. "Are you okay?" Luna released her and then wiped her eyes dry.  
"You scared me you little brat!" she shouted. "I thought you were dead!"  
"You were sorry about my death?" Her sister gave an exasperated sigh.  
"Of course I was!" she calmed herself before continuing. "Please don't do that again."  
"I'll try not to," Lina said, still shocked. "Uhhh...onesan?"  
"What is it?" her normal facade was starting to reappear. For some reason, Lina wasn't as scared any more.  
"How did you learn about me being alive?"   
  
  
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	33. Moving Out

  
Slayers Born  
  
  
  
Moving Out  
  
  
  
"Well, you know we still don't have enough people take on all the undead," Jol noted absently. Xina stood up.  
"Xina-san, what are you doing?"  
"HEY!! DOES ANYBODY ELSE WANT TO GO BLOW UP SOME DEAD THINGS!!" The other three sweatdropped as the people in the inn's common room cheered in response from behind rather large servings of food. "That was simple."  
"By Ceipheed, its a nation of Xina's," Val muttered, "How has the world lasted this long?" Xina's ears twitched as she turned to glare at him.  
"What was that?"  
"A reasonable question, considering how crazy you are," that's when Xina began to use her eating utensils to hit Val over the head.  
"At least there's going to be no reluctance to fight among them," Jol noted, sweatdropping as the various civilians of the village began to laugh about the coming fight.  
"Ouch! Stop kicking me!"  
"Umm, should we go now?" Amethyst asked.  
"Let go of my hands and I'll stop kicking you!"  
"Yeah, before you have to heal them again."  
"If I let go of your hands you'll hit me with your spoon!"  
"That's what you get for calling me crazy!!"  
"Hmm, I wonder what would happen if Luna were to show and see them risking damage to her inn?" Xina and Val both glared at Jolrael, but they stopped "fighting."  
"Shouldn't we try to convince Luna-sama to fight again?" The table nearest Amethyst silenced and someone turned to her.  
"She practices non-interference to a point," the man explained. "We're on our own unless they come here."  
  
Xalan yawned and sat up looking toward where his enhanced senses told him his sister was. She was moving, fairly fast, maybe Val had found her. If he was lucky, perhaps Amethyst and Jolrael had found them as well, but that was asking for a lot. Whichever, he was rested now, and much closer, maybe tomorrow. Maybe the next day if she kept moving like this.  
The kage-kitsune stretched and looked to where Tinuviel was sleeping, looking quite safe annd unthreatening while unconscious. He considered waking her up, but she needed more rest than he did, and he could deal with moving while she was sleeping. Xalan gathered her up and started running.  
  
"Damn," Sherra grumbled. "I can't get near that little bitch while she's around Luna."  
~That would qualify as suicide.~ her sword agreed.  
"Be quiet you," she snapped. She started pacing in the icy room, considering her options. "Now let's see here, she was traveling with her brother, the crown princess of Sailoon, an elf and a Gabriev."  
~hmmm, sounds familiar.~ Sherra rolled her eyes.  
"Perhaps we should look at some other families," she decided, with a smile.  
  
"One more time my love," Martina promised. "I ask you to make the try one more time."  
"And if I fail this time?" Zangulus asked quietly, ashamed.  
"The little brat has obviously inherited her father's skill with deception," Martina noted. "But if you fail this time, I will invest you with the power of the monster Zomalgustar! And then you will be superior again, and we shall be together, for all time!! HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!"  
"I swear to you, my love," he whispered, smiling viciously. "Inverse blood WILL adorn your gift to me." He hefted the dark blade and chuckled quietly.  
  
He was cocooned in dark power, soul sealed within the phylactery that kept him tied to this world. What and where the phylactery was, was his secret. It hadn't been in the tower when it crumbled. If it had been he wouldn't be here gathering power and recovering from the death the transformation required. If the phylactery had been destroyed then he would have snatched away to oblivion long before the spell had been completed. He had suspected the ancient structure might prove so weak, though, and so the keeping of his soul had been entrusted to one of his secondary strongholds.   
He was not ready to walk the world yet, but he could send his will across either plane. He knew that those children were still interferring. Before his body was stripped away to nothing he had recognized the moon-white body of the crown princess of Sailoon. The moon and the elf, these were the threats to his future as the Dark Lord Phibrizzo's replacement. Amethyst was with this collection of sorcerers and creatures, and his spirit growled in rage.  
Roquen reached out across the spirit plane, calling out. All he could do in either plane, for now, was call and watch, but this was enough. He found an appropriate spirit, delivered the appropriate information and sent it on its way. Perhaps this would halt the advance of the Crown Princess of Sailoon at the very least.  
  
"I can move faster," Val grumbled, as he poked the camp fire.  
"But, Val-san, we don't want to leave behind all these other sorcerers," Amethyst pointed out. She gestured at the dozen or so other campfires. "You're a little to fast for a raywing to keep up...unless you're Luna-sama." Amethyst added the last quietly.  
"How far away are these zombies anyway," Xina asked. Jolrael shrugged. Xina sniffed, bored, ears drooping. Then suddenly they perked. "Hey Val, you're itching to get something done too, right?"  
"Yeah," Val said slowly, Xina had an idea. This could be bad.  
"Why don't you and I go scouting," she suggested. "Neither of us needs much sleep, usually." She added the last while rubbing her head and glancing at Amethyst.  
"And do what when we find them?" Val asked.  
"Kill a lot of them and then come back to say we found them?"  
"Sounds like sound planning," Jol shrugged.  
"Yeah, that actually does sound good," he admited, standing up.  
"Be careful," Amethyst called as they left the camp, Xina bouncing cheerful little circles around the dragon.  
In the shadows a pair of eyes watched and waited. The owner of those eyes wanted to attack now, failure would be inevitable and then it would be freed from this slavery. The necromancer's commandment held it back, however, the spell equally aware that attack now was suicide. So it could only watch as the dragon and the fox-girl went out to scout and the other two laid down to rest like so many of the others on the campsite.  
  
"Amethyst."  
"Who's that?" the young chimera scanned about the darkness for the source of the voice. She was holding the watch at their camp, like perhaps four Zefilians across the field were doing. Val and Xina were still out, Jolrael was asleep, pretty fast asleep.  
"I'm here, Amethyst," it was a woman's voice. And it sounded familiar. She stood up and looked about. "Follow my voice."  
"Excuse me, who are you?" Amethyst asked as she walked away from camp, leaving her sword behind. She didn't notice Jolrael shifting nervously in his sleep.  
"You know me, Amethyst," the voice repeated. She continued to follow the voice for a few more minutes, until she began to notice that the camp was out of sight.  
"Please, spirit or lady, who are you?"  
"Don't you recognize me, Amethyst," the voice asked and a form shambled into the light. Amethyst flinched as it was revealed to her vision, there were unmistakable similarities in the form. She had decayed much slower than she should have, and it didn't make since that she was here, but there was no mistaking who it was.  
"Mother?" she managed to ask before freezing up.  
"I've come for you daughter," the form said softly. Amethyst couldn't see the pain in the zombie's eyes, the desire to stop. "Time to answer for killing me."   
  
  
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	34. Family Reunion

  
Slayers Born  
  
  
  
Family Reunion  
  
  
  
"They must be alot further out than we thought," Xina said as Val landed   
at the edge of a familiar twisted forest. Xina took a small leap off of   
Val's dragon back and stood on the ground next to him.  
"Luna-sama said they were at least a week out," Val's voice rumbled as he   
walked behind a particularly thick group of trees.  
"I wish Xalan were here," Xina muttered. "He's better at this sort of   
stuff than me."  
"I hope he and Tinu found what they were looking for?" Val, now in human   
form, added. Xina narrowed her eyes.  
"Well he's with Tinuviel," Xina growled under her breath. "He's got to   
be having a lot more fun the rest of us."  
"Actually, I think I'd rather face that mazoku brat over that," Val said   
as he came from behind the trees, adjusting his clothes a little.  
"What? You don't like Tinuviel?"  
"As in like a girlfriend?" he asked startled. "No!"  
"But she's so beautiful!"  
"She's annoying," he corrected. "Though I'm getting a little used to   
that. Why do you ask?  
"No reason," Xina answered happily. "Now, should we head out on foot and   
see if we find them without being seen?" Or do we head back to camp?"  
"We have most of the night left, lets go a little further?"  
"Hai!"  
  
Like most beings that actually seek power beyond the limits of their   
kind, Roquen was a fool. When he first tried and succeeded to tie a spirit   
to a physical body he was elated. When the creature failed to return quickly   
from its test mission he was annoyed. When he found himself unable to   
successfully bring down other spirits without completely destroying some   
aspect of their mindsm he was frustrated, but dealt with it. When he checked   
back on that abberation and found that it had been slowly reforming its body,   
he was confused. When he finally recognized that the thing was becoming a   
spectral version of the late queen of Sailoon, he laughed. When her daughter   
showed up opposed against him, he was amused by the irony. The cardinal rule   
of magic and power in general never occured to him. Surprises are never good   
news.  
  
"FLARE ARROW!!"  
The thought that undead usually couldn't cast spells passed through   
Amethyst's mind as the firey arrow struck her. Her mind tried to use that   
thought in an attempt to blank the fact that she appeared to be fighting her   
mother. Fortunately for the shock frozen chimera, the flare arrow did little   
more than char her clothes and throw her back against a rock.  
"I...I was just a baby!" Amethyst stammered as another arrow struck and   
she had to shake her head clear.  
"You know its true," the specter accused, walking toward the now kneeling   
chimera. "You know its...." she wouldn't let herself say that this was   
justice, she wouldn't do it. "Why don't you defend yourself?"  
"I'm sorry," Amethyst pleaded before her mother, now standing directly   
over her. Amethyst noticed now a translucent quality to the dead queen's   
body, only parts of her seemed to be dead flesh.  
"Zelgadis understood, but I wouldn't listen," Amelia whispered. "And you   
know too. Why don't you cast a spell, any spell?" The specter forced   
Amethyst to look up into her dead eyes. She shivered as the death-cold hands   
touched her stone skin. Through tear-filled eyes she was finally forced to   
see her mother's pleading eyes.  
"Any spell?" Amethyst asked, she was getting colder. The specter's touch   
draining her vitality. "You who are not of this world..."  
"Finally, coming to your own defense?" the specter smiled tauntingly, but   
her eyes encouraged her daughter on.  
"By the light of purity I possess, I bid thee, begone to the nexus of our   
two worlds! MEGIDO FLARE!" Amethyst and her mother's specter were   
enveloped in a flash of white light. The young chimera cringed as the   
specter screamed in pain, at first thinking that now she had killed her   
mother a second time. In moments, before the spell vanished, the scream   
became a cry of freedom and triumph. Then the light was gone and with it   
Amelia's specter.  
In spell-induced calm, Amethyst was able to logically examine the matter.   
Her mother had been one of the best sorceress's of the time. If she had   
really wanted to kill her daughter, she would have used something other than   
a flare arrow. Of course this was just on top of the look in the specter's   
eyes. A look Amethyst had half-suspected was her imagination at first.  
"And she told me to defend myself," Amethyst finally said. She shivered,   
still cold from the specter's touch. Finally her eyes narrowed, merely   
annoyed for the moment, she was still too calm for anything else. "The   
necromancer."  
"Amethyst! Are you okay?" she looked up to see Jol standing on the rock   
above her. "I felt something over here?" She smiled.  
"I'm fine Jolrael-san," she answered calmly. "I had an encounter with a   
ghost and had to cast a megido flare around me. I do feel kind of cold   
though." She didn't want to say that she had recognized the ghost yet.   
"It's making me kind of tired, with the megido flare I think I might do like   
Xina-san always does and go to sleep."  
"Do you need help?" He sheathed his sword as Amethyst stood up   
unsteadily, but caught herself.  
"I don't feel like anything is seriously wrong," she looked to Jol.  
"It doesn't seem that way to me, either," the swordsman agreed   
reluctantly.  
"Okay then, all I need is for you to take the watch early and then I can   
get some sleep. Is that okay Jolrael-san?"  
"It's perfectly logical." He nodded watching her walk sleepily but   
straight and in control.  
"Okay, and by the time the megido flare where's off I'll have thought   
about it too long to freak out." Jolrael didn't know what "it" was, but that   
statement certainly sounded optomistic. He was only mildly apprehensive   
about it, however, as she slept peacefully upon lying back on her bedroll.  
  
Zangulus couldn't believe his luck as he came upon fresh tracks moving   
towards the undead army without looked like some concern for stealth. He   
smiled as he noted the occasional staff point bored into the ground. She   
came this way, he could feel it in his bones. The fox-girl had come this   
way, and she had the staff.   
  
  
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	35. Scouting

  
Slayers Born  
  
  
  
Scouting  
  
  
  
Val snapped his wings back and looked back at the undead army for a moment. Xina and Val were both tired and hurt. Early in the battle the flying shadows and the odd shade rider had managed to get close enough to attack, but Xina and Val had learned quickly enough. Nothing had managed to get that close to them for a while, and their wounds had stayed minor.  
They were still pressing ahead despite the line that he and Xina had ripped through them on their last pass. Those intelligent enough to understand, like the shades, huddled in fear as the dragon passed overhead. Even they were still bound by their creator's will to proceed.  
The sky was speckled with those shadow beasts, but not nearly so much as they had been. The airborne monsters had been especially targetted by Xina and Val. It hadn't taken long to discover that the creatures' incredible speed only applied on a straight line, and they were nowhere near as powerful or maneuverable as the dragon. The last point was that they had no method of attack other than claws and fangs. Since the dragon had taken his natural form again and they had taken to the air, fully a quarter of the abominations had been scattered by fire, light and darkness.  
"How many do you think there are?" Xina asked curiously.  
"A good twenty thousand," Val grumbled. "My mother told me that the dead of wars from the last thousand years were scattered about the entire continent." Xina nodded.  
"And I'll bet he sought out the biggest collections. One more pass?" Xina asked. "And then we go back and say we found them?"  
"Sure, why not?" Xina clutched to his scales hard as the dragon carved back around to make another run on the undead. "But we should be back before the day returns."  
"So its daylight when we attack," Xina chuckled. "I know we went over this, now let's go kill something." The flying shadows began to converge again and Xina gestured with her staff as Val dived to char through the ground ranks. A shimmer of darkness and silver channeled through the staff and into a clump of shadow beasts, erupting into a burst of white shimmering light. The beasts that survived the light were consequently swallowed by a wave of darkness that absorbed and scattered their essences.  
"Another five of those things down," Xina shouted. She had to pause as the dragon cut through the swiftly closing hole, all her effort again spent gripping his scaled hide to prevent falling off. The dragon released a killing breath of energy that ripped through another six of the shadows.  
"Make it eleven," the dragon roared. As Xina found her perch on his back stable again she channeled three more of the light and shadow bombs into the masses below. These attacks did nothing to the skeletons, zombies and other physical creatures, but shades, vulnerable to extremes of light and darkness, were eliminated where ever they fell.  
"My score would be higher if I had a stable perch," Xina stuck her tongue out, despite the fact the dragon couldn't see her.  
"Can't you fly now?" Val retorted, after a combined effort from him and Xina cleared the air path ahead.  
"I'm not as fast as you, and you know it," Xina retorted, erecting a shield of force that several a shadow landed on and began to seek a way around. Xina quietly dissipated the force and left only light, which destroyed the shadow beast as it fell through. "Besides, I wouldn't have been to busy doing that to come up with anything new."  
"Yeah, that would have been annoying," Val agreed, whipping almost straight up into the air. As he leveled out high over their enemies he laughed at the sensation of Xina thumping him between the shoulder blades.  
"Would you WARN me about those maneuvers!" she shouted, as they winged their way out from the undead horde to return to the camp of sorcerers.  
"Well I think we weakened them fairly well," Val said later. "But what do we have twenty sorc...." the dragon paused as he saw their camp in the growing light of dawn.  
"Um, six hundred humans!?! And I think they're all sorcerers! Where'd they all come from?"  
  
Zangulus cursed as the dragon passed over him, that was obviously his quarry, and he couldn't follow them in the air. His sword could summon a blanket of darkness to slow a descent, but it wouldn't carry him into the blue. He had no idea where they were going and couldn't track them. He would be back to guessing, unless.  
The bounty hunter smiled suddenly and he began searching for strategic position. Why would they come out this way towards that shambling army, if were not to scout out their opposition. There was a battle coming, and in it he would have the chance to reach the girl and take her staff. All he had to do was wait for them to pass.  
  
How about that, now his sister was coming back towards him. He shrugged, she was still quite a ways away from him. Tomorrow, he decided, he would be find her late tomorrow. Assuming she moved again, otherwise it would be sooner.  
"Are you ready for one more run?"  
"Hmm?" Tinuviel asked, looking up from a notebook she had taken from a pouch somewhere. He had caught her trying to steal one of the pendants once. Well knowing Tinuviel, she probably had every intention to return it. The problem was whether it would survive her care or not.  
Speaking of the pendants, after the first day he had started taking them off while resting. Which was how she had gotten close to them in the first place. They increased his power, true, but they also put him on edge, made it hard to relax.  
"You haven't been asleep for more than ten minutes!" she protested. "You usually sleep for a full hour!" As he snapped the various pendants back in their usual spots he noticed a line drawn around his wrist.  
"Umm, what's this?" he asked confused. He then felt at his neck and forehead, rolling his eyes as they came back coated in ink?  
"Uhhh," Tinuviel sweatdropped and smiled. "I was planning on cleaning it off before you woke up."  
"Why me?" Xalan asked as he smacked his forehead into the palm of his hand.  
  
"Hey, where's Amethyst Sailoon?" Xina shouted as she jumped off Val's back before the dragon went off somewhere to have some privacy in order to change into his human form.  
"Stone skin, silvery hair?" somebody asked.  
"Yeah, that's her."  
"She was attacked by something before most of us got here," the man said. "She's still sleeping it off over there." He pointed off to where Xina thought they had been camped before she and Val went off to camp.  
"Attacked!?! What!?" Xina ran in the indicated direction and found Amethyst lying asleep serenly and Jolrael sitting crosslegged nearby. "Is she okay?"  
"She's just sleeping," Jolrael answered. "And I've checked her health, body and spiritual, couple of times to be sure." Xina glared at him for not giving her the chance to actually ask the question.  
"So what happened?" she asked, grimacing as he shrugged before she could finish. "Think she'll...."  
"I'd say it won't be long now." Val was walking up behind the swordsman. "Strange dreams though."  
"Do you know..." the dragon started.  
"How annoying what is?" Xina and Val glared at him. Then Amethyst stretched and yawned.  
"Xina-san," Amethyst said cheerfully, but wearily. "Did you find them?"  
"Yes, now we..."  
"Okay then let's go and free the souls enslaved by this vile monster!" She stood up and declared it loudly.  
"That's what I was going to say," the fox-girl said irritably. Val and Jol looked at Xina in disbelief. "More or less!!" she shouted, annoyed.   
  
  
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	36. Army of Darkness

  
Slayers Born  
  
  
  
Army of Darkness  
  
  
  
Amelia's spirit stood before the light, obviously a gateway of some kind, and hesitated. As the portal had opened she had caught a glimpse of something ancient and debased. It was coming closer to the realms of her life.  
"You don't want to pass on? Lingering is what got you caught the first time."  
"I saw something when you opened the gate," she thought and corrected herself. "No, several somethings, what were they?"  
"The old ones? They are older than the Lord of Nightmares and myself. Older even than the titles we bear."  
"What do they want with my home?"  
"Your home is there," there was a impression of gesturing to the portal of light. "The old ones are the concern of those of us who remain, you need not consider them." Amelia's spirit reached out passing what appeared to be an arm through the portal, she felt the source of all creation pass over and through her. For a moment she was tempted to leave this limbo, then she snatched her hand back.  
"No," she declared, and the portal vanished, leaving only the gray sameness of this spirit plane. The unseen presence sighed.  
"Perhaps you can keep the other stubborn one company," it said.  
  
"Where did all these people come from?" Val asked as they were winging their way back to the undead army, holding back speed so that the raywinging sorcerers could keep up.  
"They started showing up soon after Amethyst went to sleep," Jol answered, shrugging. "Apparently not everybody came with us originally and they spread the word. I believe the exact comment was 'this was all we could raise at such short notice.'" The other three blinked and sweatdropped.  
"Hey, I'm not complaining," Xina shrugged. Then she called at as the dark mass was first seen at the edges of the healthy woods. "There they are! Are you okay by yourself, Val?"  
"We're both better off not having to worry about you falling off," he reminded her. Amethyst had been quietly brooding, this was quite obvious despite the sedate cheerfulness she was projecting. In fact, it was because the cheerfulness was sedate that they noticed.  
"Are you okay for this," Jol asked, Amethyst, again. She smiled at him quietly.  
"Come on, we have to give these poor souls some justice."  
"Okay then, time to disembark!" the dragon shouted. Xina formed a pool of shadow and stepped inside, as Jolrael leaped off and began to levitate down at what was probably just barely safe velocity. Amethyst leaped off with a cry of "RAYWING!!" to head for the ground along with all the other sorcerers.  
  
Xalan found the remains of the campsite perhaps an hour after the army of sorcerers had left. He searched about and found four familiar scents, which relieved him. His talisman enhanced senses, however, gave him information that disturbed him. They were going into battle.  
"Umm, Tinuviel, perhaps I should..." he looked to see her poking a campfire that still bore some magical remnants of the spell that had started it. "Tinuviel don't..." the discharged spell suddenly flared into brief life, creating a small pillar of flame that quickly died. The flames didn't actually touch the elf, but they did cover her in a fine layer of soot. Tinuviel coughed once and pinched out the few strands of her hair that had caught afire.  
"I was right!" she declared. "They did use magic to make these fires!"  
"Okay, maybe leaving you here is a bad idea." he grumbled.  
"Hmm? Oh, no I'll be fine," she said.  
"Okay, well I'm going go off to find this battle now..."  
"Oooo! Can I come?" Xalan sweatdropped.  
"Sure..."  
  
Zangulus smiled as the hoard of sorcerers landed. Of course they'd have to land, and that was too his benefit. The only problem he could for see was the possibility that his quarry would be riding the dragon instead of on the ground with the other men and women. An amorphous shadow touched down and the fox girl walked out, carrying the staff, and his worries were forgotten.  
The hunter dropped from his most recent perch and approached the developing battle.  
  
"Here they come!" Jol shouted, hefting his sword. "We have about thirty minutes until the sun sets and the shades rise up, so let's..."  
"Could you stay behind me for a moment?" Amethyst asked, the undead horde was shambling towards them through the trees. Jolrael looked at her a moment and then backed behind the chimera.  
"What are you doing?"  
"I think I've found a new spell," she explained. "Something I saw while I was dreaming." Then she extended her arms forward.  
"Everybody else is already started fighting," Xina noted. "How long is this going to take?"  
"ELMEKIA WAVE!!" As the first ranks of zombies shambled to with in thirty feet or so of their position, Amethyst's spell completed. A blue white globe appeared in front of the chimera, exploded out into a wall of spiritual energy and then surged forward ripping zombies apart as it passed, breaking apart after it had mowed down a two hundred foot deep line in the zombies.  
"Ummm, that was good," Xina muttered. "Why can't I cast magic like that?"  
"Well, its not really as powerful as a concentrated elmekia flame, or even lance," Amethyst said after catching herself from falling. "But it does it hit a lot more things at once."  
Then the zombies were advancing again.  
"I've got an idea," Xina shouted. Paired walls of force ranged outward from their forward flanks, forming a funnel towards the three of them. The opening just happened to be wide enough to accomodate Amethyst's elmekia wave spell. Then Jolrael and Xina each took an outside edge of the funnel while the chimera sent spell after spell through the bottleneck, where the zombies were bunching up.   
To their left and right all along the line, sorcerers were tossing fireballs and other such spells at the approaching undead horde. It was a massacre, without the more intelligent undead and the flying shadow beasts, the zombies and skeletons had only sheer numbers. Suddenly, by unspoken agreement, every sorcerer in the line cast a megido flare and zombies were ripped apart by the exorcism spells. Val periodically passed above and charred dozens upon dozens of the undead automatons.  
  
By the time the sun had set, indeed a half hour later, the zombies had been reduced to mere stragglers. Then the shades and shadow beasts, arrived and, even without the zombies, the level of threat picked up. The living compacted together, trying to avoid being split up.  
"We're winning," Xina declared, flinching as she heard another cry from some unlucky sorcerer. She was slightly behind the front ranks, in a position to be able to run up and down the line and strike anywhere along it over the backs of others. Then she caught a familiar scent and her eyes widened as she turned to see a familiar bounty hunter rushing at her from their "safe" flank. Xina sent a wave of force spears at the advancing bounty hunter, only to have them shattered by his blade.  
"One more time, girl?" Xina growled and got ready to attack, when another scent and a flash of movement and light alerted her to another pair of newcomers. These were a happy addition though. Raising a force shield slowed down the bounty hunter enough that she could confirm her suscpision. Xalan was setting Tinuviel down within the "safe" places behind the front lines.  
"Xalan!"  
"Where's everybody else?" he asked.  
"We've been scattered up the line a bit," Xina explained.  
"Well, it seems that I have both of you here," Zangulus laughed as he shattered Xina's wall.  
"Finish off the shades, keep an eye on Tinuviel," Xalan growled. "I got him."  
"Don't let me convince you of your mistake boy," Zangulus laughed. Xalan smiled.  
"LIGHT COME FORTH!!"  
Black blade and claws of light clashed and the two combatants began the dance of a duel.  
Xina hesitated only a moment.  
"Come on, Tinu, let's kill some ghosts!"  
"No, Knight of Cepheed, this time girlly," Xina pushed Tinuviel aside just as the first barrage of energy disks struck their former location. "And your dragon seems busy as well." Xina looked up to where Val was embattled against the remaining flock of shadow beasts. It wouldn't take him long to finish them off, but until then.  
"What! Does everything have to happen at once here!??" Xina shouted. "Tinuviel go find Amethyst or Jol, tell them I have a mazoku problem."  
"Mazoku...you're a..."  
"NOW!! Interview her later!" Tinuviel blinked and then shrugged in exasperation going off to find the chimera or Jol. "Shall we try this again!"  
"Let's see if you have any surprises this time girl!" the mazoku spat as she launched another barrage.  
"COUNT ON IT!!!" Xina shouted as she leaped out of the way.   
  
  
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	37. The Twins' Duels

  
Slayers Born  
  
  
  
The Twins' Duels  
  
  
  
The black blade swished low, trying to take Xalan's feet. The kage-kitsune leaped over, the strike and his claws slashed in at the bounty hunters face. Zangulus blocked the attack with the hilt of his weapon. Zangulus started to push forward with, when his opponent twisted and pushed off the block. Xalan flipped behind him and kicked out as the bounty hunter ducked.  
Zangulus was turning about to try and attack while his opponent was still in freefall. He hadn't considered the possibility that his opponent could get in a second kick in before he landed. That dazed him, the the third kick as Xalan landed sent him into a tree.  
Zangulus was an experienced fighter, and the weapon Martina provided him had enhanced his reflexes and strength as well. Unfortunately his opponent was also magically enhanced, and Xalan's speed and strength had been incredible to start with. To top it off, he was countering every move Zangulus started. It was as if the boy used the same style he was using.  
Zangulus rolled away as the kage-kitsune slashed into the tree with his light weapon.  
"Where'd you learn how to fight?" Zangulus demanded as he blocked again, he settled into a pattern of defense until he could figure out some weakness.  
"I've always known how," Xalan shrugged. Zangulus considered an opening in Xalan's stance. It closed. Zangulus eyes narrowed as he processed this information. Zangulus considered a maneuver, Xalan shifted stance to accomdate the counter. It didn't take him long to realize that his opponent didn't even realize what he was doing.  
"So I see," Zangulus smiled.  
  
Sherra saw the same shower of shadow and force spears and teleported out of the way. Reappearing beneath, and what she assumed was behind, the shadow. The mazoku smiled as she launched an energy blast through the shadow. She frowned as the blast really did go through, instead of impacting inside like it should have. The mazoku began to scan for her opponent and a burst of darkness and shimmering light erupted in her face, blinding her. The next thing she felt was multiple force spears slicing into her. The shock and pain of the injury brought her back to the ground.  
"How's that for a surprise!" Xina yelled as she charged forward and stabbing out with the narrow end of her staff. Xina was surprised when the mazoku grabbed the weapon and stopped her cold. Sherra's girlish form stood up and smiled, the blood was already ceasing to flow from her wounds. "I'm in trouble aren't I?"  
"How'd you guess?" Sherra asked, pushing forward with full mazoku strength. Xina managed to maintain her grip on the staff, but she still had to deal with the hard impact with the ground. Xina used her own mazoku born strength to slow herself down, gripping the ground with her feet, before she lost her balance and tumbled.  
As she cleared her head Xina saw Sherra approaching her with drawn sword. A wall of force rose up before the mazoku, and Sherra laughed.  
"You don't seriously think this can stop me?" she asked, slashing down with her sword the wall shattered. Prepared for a stronger resistance, Sherra tumbled forward with a comical look of surprise. Xina rushed forward and snapped down on the off-balance mazoku with her staff. Sherra teleported out of the blow's way, and it was Xina's turn to stumble forward in surprise when her target was no longer there.  
The kage-kitsune had sense enough to cast a shell of force around herself to absorb Sherra's attack. She didn't have any more time than that before the blade smashed into her protection and she fell flat on her stomach.  
"You're impressive for a half-breed," Sherra spat. "Not even as dangerous as your human mother." The shell about Xina flowed off of her and speared through Sherra's form. The mazoku cried out and dropped to her knees giving Xina time to regain her feet.  
"You're afraid of my mother, aren't you?" Xina jibed. Sherra snarled as the force spear shattered and she began heal. Xina looked about quickly and noticed that their fight had carried them to the edge of the larger battle.  
"A dark lord's general afraid of a stick of a girl?" Sherra snapped. She lunged forward, snarling as Xina dodged out of the way.  
"You haven't seen my mother recently, have you," she asked calmly.  
~Don't listen to her!~  
"What do I care about that flat-chested little bitch?" Sherra snapped, ignoring the sword. She slashed out and growled as Xina dodged and laughed again.  
"As if you're one to talk," Xina laughed, as she checked her position. "Poor little mazoku jealous over a mere human."  
"SHUT UP!!" Sherra shouted, the fox-girl was swallowed in shadow, still smiling, as the mazoku leaped through the supernatural darkness and rolled up to find herself surrounded by shifting shadows. "YOU LITTLE BITCH!! YOU CAN'T HIDE FROM ME!!!"  
The mazoku began to tear into every shadow she could see, and there were a seemingly endless number. Jolrael came running from further down the line, he moved to follow the enraged mazoku, when he felt something that stopped him. Xina dropped down from a tree to his side and yawned.  
"I shouldn't bother, but, why does it appear as that a mazoku has joined the battle on our side?"  
"Sore wa himitsu desu."  
  
Xalan desperately dodged another close shave. Suddenly it seemed as if Zangulus knew everything that he was about to do. It seemed as if the hunter knew what Xalan would do before Xalan did. His enhanced and inhuman strength and speed had so far kept his footing more or less even with that of the bounty hunter's., but only just.  
"You have some impressive talents, boy," Zangulus laughed. "But they are easily turned against you."  
"I don't know what you're talking about," Xalan snapped. He slashed forward with the three light blades of his gauntlet, following his instincts as always. Zangulus barely dodged out of the way, but more importantly snapped a kick into Xalan's face. On impulse he let himself fall backwards and slash upwards with the claws, scraping across the hunter's torso.  
"You're just a copycat," Zangulus laughed. "You're no warrior."  
Both fighters took a moment to recover. Neither had managed to lay a deciding blow on the other, and it was only the effort of battle that had them panting hard. Even the slashes across Zangulus's chest were only minor.  
"I'm giving you a tough battle."  
"You're some kind of mind reader," Zangulus continued. "A maneuver hits my mind and your instincts move to counter it." They were flashing strikes and blocks between each other, Zangulus slowly but surely gaining the advantage.  
"Whatever it is, it works."   
"But think of a maneuver and wait for you to counter it," Zangulus indicated, thinking of a heavy spin. Xalan lunged forward, and was wide open when spin didn't happen. Zangulus let him pass and slam into a tree.  
"You're only prolonging the end," Zangulus told him, laughing quietly. He had paused to let Xalan catch his breath and taunt him further. "Then your sister will be easy prey. I've been looking forward to skinning her inso..."   
Xalan launched forward, growling, cutting Zangulus comment short. The hunter hesitated only a moment before raising his sword in a block. He didn't anticipate the snap punch to his throat. In horror, Zangulus realized that he had given up the initiative with that last taunt. He was trying to recover his breath and thinking of anything he could do to regain control of the duel.  
Xalan snapped down with his claws of light downward and the stumbling bounty hunter cried out as he felt his arm sliced off. The bounty hunter dropped to his knees, as the kage-kitsune destroyed his dropped sword. Xalan stared down at him and let the light claws vanish.  
"We're going to deal with this necromancer," he said. "Then I'm taking my sister back home! Got it? We just want to be left alone, okay." Xalan caught a sniff of an approaching scent and turned to look to his left, where a collection of shades were running from the battle at large. In that instant he saw what looked to be a fifteen year old girl burst from their midst, ripping them to pieces. With his enhanced senses he identified her easily as a mazoku. He heard Zangulus getting up and leaving, but didn't care. Even Tinuviel could handle him now. Well, maybe not Tinuviel.  
  
Sherra finished off the last of this pack of shadows and cast about for more. She'd find the girl's true hiding spot soon enough, she couldn't run forever. In scanning for more deep shadows she caught site of a young man standing over a defeated warrior. Instantly she saw something familiar in the narrow eyed gaze that he was regarding her with.  
~Do you realize that she just tricked you into helping her friends?~ Sherra wasn't paying attention, she was looking at the young man before her. Imagining him without a tail, imagining the red hair with purple streaks was completely purple. Everything else seemed to be the same, including the narrow eyed angry gaze adopted for a serious battle.  
"You must be the son of Xellos Metallium," she said shyly.  
~Oh, for Shabrinigdo's sake, you're not going to fall for him now!~  
"And what do you want out of me?"  
"What I want? I..."  
"Xalan! Watch out she's a mazoku!" Sherra whipped her head around to look at the descending dragon. She considered blasting it out of the sky, but that would hardly endear her to the dragon's friend. Cursing, the mazoku teleported away, again.   
  
  
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	38. Battle's End

  
Slayers Born  
  
  
  
Battle's End  
  
  
  
"So you're the 'other stubborn one'" Amelia noted as she found Xellos also hanging about the spirit plane in the vicinity of their children. Xellos's spirit looked exhausted as he sat on the non-ground, leaning against the trunk of a mind-formed tree while sitting in its branches. At least he had recovered enough from Luna's summoning to do that much.  
"So you've been talking our heavenly friend," Xellos sighed, smiling sarcastically.  
"Heavenly?"  
"Never mind," Xellos waved his hand. "And what have you been doing to aid our children? When I couldn't find you before I assumed you had passed on, as he likes to say."  
"I was...." she scanned about the nothingness skittishly. "...Trapped...But even that seems to have served the cause of Justice."  
"How so?" Xellos asked, wincing at the justice speech. Amelia smiled cheerfully.  
  
All his minions were destroyed or freed. He had felt each snapping tie. They were all gone except those in this stronghold, his strongest minions. He now had to content himself only with their protection and the seclusion of this stronghold for protection. Considering the resourcefulness of his enemies he didn't quite feel secure that they would be stopped by such measures. If he was lucky they would miss his phylactery. Then again, perhaps he had another choice, dangerous maybe, but it couldn't be helped.  
  
"Well, that's all those ghosts," the Zefilian sorcerer stretched kinked muscles while the slayers were sitting together next to a tangled tree.  
"How many died?" Amethyst asked quietly.  
"Thirty," the mage said somberly. "Another hundred or so wounded. Lucky considering the odds."  
"Some luck," Jol laughed.  
"Well, I assume you're returning..."  
"No, we still have to finish this," Amethyst informed them. Jolrael nodded. Xalan looked and saw that Xina was also determined to continue for some reason. Despite the fact that everything appeared settled to him. He wasn't wearing the talismans at the moment, so he had to guess a great deal.  
"But the entire army of undead is destroyed," the sorcerer noted curiously. "What else is there?"  
"We still have to deal with the one who bound them all," Amethyst explained. "My thanks, and the thanks of Sailoon for your aid."  
"Hmph, girl, this is our country," the sorcerer replied cheerfully. "We don't need thanks to defend ourselves. Say hi to Lina for us!"  
"Mom's going to kill us," Xina moaned.  
"Twenty years of anynmousity all gone," Xalan agreed. "But perhaps we SHOULD be getting home."  
"Amethyst is right," Jolrael said. "We have to finish this."  
"Roquen is dead isn't he," Xalan questioned. "We all saw him torn apart by his own spell. Except him."  
"He was changing," Xina corrected. "I know you felt it too, that little tingle whenever mom changes shape."  
"His soul didn't leave our world," Jolrael added.  
"My mother told me where to find him." Everybody blinked and stared at Amethyst. She looked at Jol for a moment. "The specter that attacked me...was my mother." Everybody face faulted. Xalan sat up and narrowed his eyes, looking to Xina.  
"You've been talking to father's ghost?" he didn't wait for an answer. "Okay, I'll come along, but she goes home right now."  
"What?! You don't obviously think that...."   
"Mom sent me to get you and bring you home," Xalan said. "The only reason I let you come all this way..."  
"LET me come! I'm not a helpless little girl," Xina spat. "I can take care of myself, and I'm sticking with my friends." Xina stomped off angrily.  
"Val, why don't you talk some sense in her."  
"Are you kidding? Her mind is hazardous terrain for sense," the dragon arched an eyebrow, then toppled off the rock he was sitting on when something struck him in the back of the head.  
"I heard that!!"  
"Can't you see that this is a trap?" he asked. "Tinu and Xina should stay behind."  
"It doesn't matter we have to do this anyway," Jol said. "If we don't do it someone else will have to."  
"And Roquen is trapped for a long while yet," Amethyst added. "Justice must be served, and the best time is now."  
"Xina...."  
"Excuse me, Xalan-san," Amethyst interrupted him. "I can understand wishing to see Tinuviel left behind. But..."  
"Where is Tinuviel anyway?" Jol asked suddenly.  
  
"Okay, I'm listening, I'm listening," Sherra rolled her hands to indicate for the girl to continue.  
~Oh, this is pathetic.~  
"What's he like? Well...." and Sherra launched into a string of unintelligible psychobabble. With Sherra writing furiously.  
~Her friends are coming.~  
"Okay, I've got to go now," Sherra said, before vanishing.  
"But you promised to..." Tinuviel sighed irritably.  
"Hi Jol..."  
Elsewhere Sherra was reading through the notes she had furiously taken down.  
"What does any of this MEAN!?!" She wailed.  
~Why can't you just once reacted to these situations calmly?~   
  
  
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	39. Dwarf Hold

  
Slayers Born  
  
  
  
Dwarf Hold  
  
  
  
"This is the place?" Xalan asked, irritably, as they stood before a crumbling gate way carved out of the side of a mountain. He still didn't like this, it felt like a trap, and they hadn't even been able to leave Tinuviel behind. Nobody trusted her to stay anywhere, so she was with them. Of course admitting that they couldn't leave Tinuviel behind had destroyed any argument he had for keeping Xina out of this. At least he had forced a promise from Xina. If that could be called a victory.  
"I swear that I'll go back home as soon as I finish my quest," she had said, reluctantly enough.  
"These are the gates mother's specter showed me in the dream," Amethyst nodded in return. "And I suppose he does know we're coming, his army has been destroyed after all." Xalan glanced at her. Amethyst was almost as annoyed with him as Xina was. Jolrael was maintaining the same air of cynical superiority he'd had when he first met the swordsman. Tinuviel wasn't annoyed with him at all, but then again she was generally too distracted to be annoyed with anybody. In fact, of the entire party he found himself agreeing with Val most often.  
"This will be fun to fight in," Val mumbled, referring to the fact that he probably would be forced to remain in human form throughout the dungeon crawl.  
"Any idea of what we're facing," Jol asked.  
"Mother only knew where," Amethyst shook her head along with the answer. They started walking through the gates looking about cautiously for any sign of their enemy.  
"Curious stonework," Tinuviel hummed to herself, pausing to investigate the gates. The others passed on into the structure as she did so. "Very familiar, I wonder why....hey!"  
"When we kill the bad guy, THEN you can study this place to your heart's content, okay?" Xina asked as she returned from inside.  
"But you guys always destroy everything when you do that."  
"How are we going to destroy a vast underground complex?"  
"This place stinks," Xalan muttered. Xina had to agree as she wrinkled her nose in an attempt not to smell anything.  
"Yes, well its probably crawling with ghosts and other undead monsters so that makes sense," Jol said.  
"No it doesn't smell like rot or death," Xina corrected. "It smells like..."  
"...rusty metal?" Xalan finished.  
"Do you want me to cast a light spell," Amethyst asked.  
"We can see in the dark just fine," Xalan answered. "There's nothing but a bunch of statues lining the walls."  
"Yeah, they must be made of metal," Xina commented.  
"That's why the stone work is familiar," Tiinuviel slammed her fist into her hands. "This must be one of the lost dwarven strongholds. There was this one, Tumunzahar I think, that was supposed to be guarded by a force of enchanted statues." Everybody stopped for a moment.  
"She didn't say anything we wanted to hear," Val asked. "Did she." The sound of creaking metal elicited a frustrated sigh from most of them.  
  
Roquen sensed the guardian golems awakening in the upper levels and scowled, or tried to. The ancient decayed bones of the dwarven skeleton weren't useful for normal modes of expression. He cursed his enemies silently. In another month he could have gathered enough power to roam bodiless. Now instead of seeking out a fresh corpse, or better yet, a living body to possess, he was stuck with this rickety skeleton.  
Still his power was much greater than it had been in life. He hadn't really had the chance to actually fight them last time. Then again, they seemed stronger than they had when the lot of them had stolen the staff. The necromancer turned liche turned to the other corpses in the dwarven catacombs. Without the staff he couldn't do much more than animate the corpses and load them down with various spells and enchantments. Still, it would disguise his presence, he doubted they would be able to pick him out from the other shambling skeletons until it was too late. In fact they'd probably target the shade that had carried his phylactery here past the golems that would have destroyed his living form.  
Now all he had to do was find his way through the catacombs.  
  
"Okay, which way now?" Amethyst asked.  
"We're being chased by a bunch of walking statues that seem to regenerate faster than we can kill them," Xina noted, "What does it matter which way we go?" Xina turned ran around one corner of the fork.  
"She has a point," Jol noted, and started to follow the fox-girl. Until she came blasting around back from the corner.  
"Not that way!!" she shouted going down another cooridor. Everybody turned and saw another group of golems coming out of the shadows in that direction.  
"I knew this was a trap," Xalan sighed as they followed Xina. About a hundred feet down the cooridor, they stopped and decimated the first two ranks of enchanted statues. Then turned and ran again while the fallen statues blocking the cooridor began to repair themselves.  
"Okay, Tinuviel," Xina started as they stopped for a rest. "You're the one that knows about this place, what do we do to stop these things?" The elf was looking at a section of writing on the wall, next to a series of jewels embedded in the stone.  
"'...seal the city against enemy armies...'" she muttered. "Hmm, oh, I think they'll stop chasing us if we leave the city."   
"Well, that's no good," Val said.  
"How can we bring justice to this vile necromancer if we leave the city?"  
"At least it will give us time to figure out how to beat these golems." Then there was a loud rumbling sound followed by a resounding crash.  
"Amazing the, mechanism for sealing the city still works!" Everybody looked at Tinuviel and sweatdropped. "I wonder what this does."  
"NO!!!" Everybody shouted. Then the floor dropped from underneath them and they started falling into a deep darkness that only Xina and Xalan could see through. After hitting the ground a moment later, the ceiling closed above them.  
"I wonder what the logic of that was?" Tinuviel scratched her head.  
"I'm guessing some cosmic power just gets a laugh out of stuff happening to us," Jol grumbled.  
  
"Now do I follow, or do I just wait," Sherra paced back in forth in front of them now sealed gates to the dwarven city. "No I have to follow him, but what do I do once I find him again."  
~Whatever happened to killing the children of Xellos Metallium for the greater glory of Dynast-sama?~  
"Well, won't it be better to recruit them to his side instead?"  
~After trying to kill his sister and that dragon?~  
"I'm sure they'll understand that it was all just a misunderstanding."  
~Usually I like psychotic behaivour, but this is just silly.~  
"Oh forget it," Sherra snapped. "I'll figure it out when I find him again." She teleported past the great stone blocking the doors.  
~You know, dwarves are one of the elder races.~  
"So."  
~Shouldn't you be worried about defenses?~  
"Oh they didn't show up here until well after their decline in power." She waved the concern away. Then she looked at the golem in front of her. "Hmm, good workmanship." The golem slammed her through the floor down to the level before.  
~As you were saying.~ Sherra reached a twitching hand out of the pile of rubble and pulled her self out, barely containing her rage.  
"I broke a nail!"  
~....please tell me you're kidding.~  
"THAT THING DIES NOW!!!" she roared as she flew up through the hole in the wall.   
  
  
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	40. Eluding the Golems

  
Slayers Born  
  
  
  
Eluding the Golems  
  
  
  
He could smell them, running to and fro, he could virtually taste the   
life in there bodies. Some part of him that despised what he had become   
flared in envy that they should be possessed of life and breath, while he was   
not. Consciously he was only incensed that they should think to challenge   
him. He had defeated death itself what could they think to do that would   
stop him. He would destroy them all, except for one. He didn't particularly   
care which one, just so that it was a fresh body that he could acclimate to   
his power. This dwarf skeleton wasn't going to last him much longer.  
He paused, scanning the ruins further. There was another battle   
somewhere in this hideaway, one that wasn't quite moving as fast. He reeled   
in surprise as he determined the identity of the other intruder.  
"A mazoku," the dwarf skull tried to smile, but of course it couldn't.   
"This is the perfect way to test my new power, assuming that this lump of   
bones survives that long." He mentally commanded his column of skeletons to   
stop as he sensed the approach of his primary targets. The young slayers   
rushed past the cooridor he lurked in with just the barest glance.  
At his command the dwarf skeletons shambled into the cooridor to follow,   
after all, the golems wouldn't even see his minions. They were interested in   
the living, not the undead. It was one of the few things that dwarven   
creators had neglected. As the first rank of skeletons began shambling   
along, Roquen discovered something that he had overlooked.  
He commanded his undead stop again as the golems non-chalantly trampled   
his first rank, completely unaware that they were even there. Grumbling the   
lich and his undead followed behind the metal monstrosities.  
  
"Okay there has to be some sort of way to beat these things, or turn them   
off or something!"  
"Umm...Hey, Xalan!" the kage-kitsune turned to his sister. "Follow my   
lead!"   
"What are...hey!" Val protested as Xina grabbed him and Tinuviel and   
dived into a shadow. On the otherside of the cooridor Xalan, Jol and   
Amethyst followed suite. Outside the small dimensional pockets the golems   
stopped as their prey apparently vanished from the world. Xina and Xalan,   
the only ones capable of seeing in the pure darkness of the shadow meld,   
watched as the golems stopped stood still and then tramped off in various   
directions back to where they had stood when the slayers' passage had   
awakened them.  
"Well that looks...." Xalan paused as he detected another approaching   
scent. "Hey, don't leave the shadow yet!" he shouted across to the other   
shadow.  
"What do..." then Xina picked up the smell of mouldering bones.   
"Oh...here he is."  
"Oh Val-kun what do we do?" Xina contemplated tossing Tinuviel out of the   
shadow.  
"What he's out there!" Xina's eyes widened as she looked across to the   
other shadow meld gate. Xalan must have told Amethyst what was happening.   
Knowing the chimera....  
Sure enough Amethyst came charging out of the shadow and stopped in the   
path of undead dwarves.  
"Vile enslaver of souls! I am here to bring you justice!!" And Xina   
winced as the flash of a Megido Flare became obvious.  
"Didn't her father teach her strategy?" Val asked.  
"Actually..." Xina stepped out next to Amethyst, her exit forcing   
Tinuviel and Val out of the collapsing gate. "Hey jerk!!"  
  
Sherra had "killed" the golem for the fifth time. This time she spent an   
additional fifteen minutes tracing each individual piece of the golem and   
reducing them to ashes.  
"I think that did it finally," she said catching her breath. "Now to   
find Xalan and..." there was a loud metallic clanging sound. This was   
followed by another, and another. Sherra sighed frustratedly and turned to   
face three statues on their way to their proper places after losing their   
original prey. "This is just going to be one of those days.....isn't it."  
~So are you going to fight these too?~  
"Of course I am, what else can I do?" she asked as she dodged the first   
attack.  
~Oh I don't know, move to the astral plane perhaps.~ Sherra paused long   
enough for a golem to strike and send her flying through a wall into another   
room. She lefted the sword up and glared at the run emblazoned weapon.  
"Sometimes I really hate you," she said. Then she shifted into the gray   
astral that lay between the living world and the outer realms. The   
unthinking golems quietly took up there podiums not noticing the absence of   
one of their number.   
  
  
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	41. Cloud of Death

  
Slayers Born  
  
  
  
Cloud of Death  
  
  
  
As Xina and Amethyst stepped out into the cooridor facing the skeletal horde they heard a low chuckling from somewhere among the expressionless corpses. A black cloud wafted outward from somewhere among the skeletons and drifted towards the gathering slayers. Lichen and fungus withered and died at its passage.  
"Diem Wind!" the black wind was torn to pieces by the strong winds.  
"You cannot defeat me, mortals," the voice seemed to emanate from all the skeletons at once in a grisly chorus. "I have moved beyond death and life."  
A skeleton brought an ancient axe the bare against Amethyst and shattered the weapon on her skin for the trouble. Yet where the ancient and rusted axe head had shattered, her skin felt like it had been steeped in cold deeper than the worst winter she could remember.  
She winced backwards as the creature tried to lunge for her again. Three blades of light neatly bisected it before it could make another attack. Val stepped forward, reared back and released a searing breath of flame out at the undead foes, completely incinirating the first three ranks. Then Amethyst and Xina followed up with attacks of their own. Five skeletons survived, and four of them shambled forward to be destroyed by Jol and Xalan's attacks.  
"I can create new minions," the last skeleton laughed, surrounded by menacing and only half visible nimbus of an evil and deadly aura.  
"Enslave further souls you mean!" Amethyst accused angrily rubbing the still cool skin of her arm.  
"Enjoyed your family reunion?"  
Xalan rushed in at the creature slashing out with the claws of light. The skeleton actually caught hold of the blades and tossed the kage-kitsune further down the cooridor. Xalan kicked out as he was thrown past and caved in the lich's stolen rib cage.  
"Diem Wind." the spell issued forth from the lich's lips and repelled the barrage of light spears that Xina had sent after him. An identical spell from Amethyst crushed the spears between two great winds and scattered the light into tiny motes without force.  
As the wind wall dropped, Jolrael leaped through, slashing the skeleton's arm off. The severed appendage snatched out at the swordsman as it fell and gripped his knee with a freezing hand. As Jolrael grimaced and mentally pried the dead fingers from around his leg, Val stepped in and simply punched out, shattering the skeleton's skull.  
"Destroy this vessel all you wish," Roquen laughed, his voice now seemingly disembodied. A blue-white blast of deathly cold enveloped the dragon, sending Val screaming to his knees and glaring upwards in anger.  
There was barely the sound of a passing breeze to warn the lich of Xalan's rush from behind, but he could feel the rush of life. The remains of the skeletal body turned as a megido flare rose up around it. It barely noticed the white magic spell, and instead reared back to release another cloud of death at the kage-kitsune warrior.  
"NO!" the lich would have frowned if it had a lips, or even a head for that matter. Somebody just appeared ahead of his target and drew in all the death cloud. As the decaying gas was dissipated the body of a fifteen year old girl appeared. The lich released a stream of the deadly cloud out at the girl.  
They remained like that, Sherra taking the essence of death into her and the lich trying to channel enough of it through to kill her without destroying itself. Then the slayers descended on his body and destroyed the skeleton through which he channeled his power into the physical world.  
"Her again!" Xina shouted irritably as Sherra stared wearily out at where the skeleton had stood. Sherra was sweating, she was actually sweating, and what seemed to be a fever was sweeping over her body. She blinked in confusion at the sensations rippling over her from accepting the stuff of death into her immortal form. She shook her head clear and rose up her sword into a ready position.  
~You're leaving now.~ Sherra's fevered mind tried to protest but the ruins began to disappear around her.  
"Is that it?" Xina asked. Then Tinuviel cried out behind them.  
"Tinu!" Jol shouted and rushed forward as a black nimbus seemed to cling about the elf girl. Jol caught her body and reached out with his mind into hers.  
"Oh, I get it now," Xina said and rushed around to support Tinuviel from the otherside. Remembering how the moon magic had slowly eaten through Luna's paralysis she reached out through the staff with a silvery radiance. The staff, Jol's telepathic prodding's and Roquen's possession attempt all interacted in the most bizarre manner possible.  
Suddenly Xina, Xalan and Tinuviel stood in a great cluttered hall full of books stacked in seemingly no order whatsoever. Most of them were filled with bookmarks, opened to random pages, or thoroughly dog-eared. It was a mass of scholarly disorder. In the back of the hall the walls seemed to be decaying as a dark shape walked through a hole eaten through the wall. The black shape hesistated as it approached them.  
Tinuviel retreated a step backwards from the thing, somehow aware that it was here for her.  
"A girl who channels the moon, and an elf-blood," a voice sneered. "I targetted the wrong pair."   
  
  
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	42. Brief Meeting

  
Slayers Born  
  
  
  
Brief Meeting  
  
  
  
The black form moved forward and the shelves and books before it decayed and vanished. Tinuviel felt herself forgetting some of her long gathered knowledge.  
"Stop it!" she shouted. "You're making me forget."  
"Yes," the darkness that was Roquen agreed. "But soon you won't care."  
"We have to take the fight out of Tinu's mind," Jol muttered to Xina.   
"Hey, this is your deal," she said irritably. "I don't know how I got here." Jol groaned and reached out. He couldn't really affect the terrain here, it wasn't his mind, he could only change the way it looked. Perhaps, however, he could protect it a little. The cluttered books and shelves warped and changed into sheathes of metal with runes hammered into them. The darkness's passage twisted the metal, but didn't completly destroy them.  
"Perhaps before I consume your souls, I'll explain it to you." Roquen reached out for Jol and the swordsman dodged aside as Xina flashed silvery light over the darkness. Tinuviel twisted around the battle and ran to some of the steel books flipping pages and looking for something about this situation.  
"Gotcha!" Xina laughed as a large region of Roquen's form vanished. Then the shadow seemed to bleed out and reform as it was before. She blinked as the darkness, seeming to smile, reached out for her.  
"Xina, move!" Jol shouted as the darkness passed into and through an unfazed Xina. The illusion looked down once before it shattered.  
"I try not to be where I seem to be," he heard behind him. "Lure him to your mind, I'll work on this staff thingy." He turned back and saw nothing at first, until the wall seemed to blink at him.  
"Damn you!" Jol shouted. A portal seemed to take form behind the swordsman, beyond it the others were looking on in concern at them.  
"The outside world through your eyes," Roquen's voice echoed outward with laughter. "Perhaps I can return through your mind." The darkness had no distinguishable face but it still seemed as if the necromancer were smiling. Jolrael leaped back through the portal as the darkness charged.  
  
Tinuviel shook her head her perception appeared to return to normal. She fell back, her legs weak, and looked up at Jol and Xina. Both were still locked in a sort of trance, but Xina seemed to release a pale radiance all her own. Silvery light, as if the moon shown inside this dungeon. She gripped the staff tightly and it was leaning against Jol's shoulder.  
"Tinuviel-san," Amethyst gasped. "You're awake."  
"How very interesting, you seem to be made of rock," they all blinked.  
"Tinuviel, are you okay?"  
"Hmm? Oh, you must know me then," the elf asked. "I'm sorry, that horrid beast erased some of my memories."  
"That means we're going to have to go through those 'experiments' all over again," Val started. "Doesn't it?" Tinuviel turned to look at him and yet again her eyes seemed to pop out of her skull.  
"Oh....my," she said. "Are you my boyfriend." Val blushed immediately and winced backwards.  
"Of course not!"  
"It didn't work," she sighed. She pulled a notebook, quill and a vial of ink out of her pack. "We'll see how the next experiment does."  
"You mean you DO remember us?" Xalan asked.  
"Of course I do," Tinuviel said. "But um, what was my name again?" Everybody face-faulted.  
  
"Okay," Xina kept part of her mind focused on keeping track of Jol and the necromancer. Mostly, however she was trying to figure out just what she did. Or how the staff did it anyway.  
~The staff is a bridge.~ The voice was a woman's.  
"Who are you?" Then she remembered Amethyst's story. "Amelia?" She felt as if the woman was smiling.  
~Xellos is here, but he's kind of tired or something.~  
"So do you know how this works?" she asked indicating the staff in her hands. She looked up and rushed to follow Jol and the necromancer out of Tinuviel's mind.  
~Not really, but I'm sure you'll figure it out. Hmm?....oh, Xellos said something about infusing it with power.~  
"That's done," she looked about Jol's mindscape. "Can he make it any more boring?"  
~Follow...my voice.~ That was her father but he sounded tired.  
  
As soon as the darkness followed Jol the portal closed behind it. The scene of people looking on, with concerned expressions vanished. Replacing it was a blank field of wind swept dust. The darkness that represented Roquen's mind face Jol across this wasteland.  
"This is your mind, elf-blood?" the darkness laughed. Jol yawned and shrugged. "Such a barren waste of life you must be." The darkness seemed to swell up to gigantic, amorphous proportions. Roquen began to crash down on Jolrael when the ground began to tremble and rock splitting apart underneath the necromancer. The darkness's fall over Jol was halted as Roquen flowed into the cracks and the ground was closed again.  
Jol watched and waited as the ground seemed to ooze a fine black mist that was trying to gather into humanoid form again. He sighed and a wind arose to scatter the mist the corners of the field. The swordsman laughed quietly as he turned to face his own shadow trying to rise up to grab him. A brilliant light appeared between him and the shadow. A shriek of pain arose as the shadow recoiled.  
"I have enslaved thousands of souls!" Roquen shouted. "You are no different."  
"I'm alive." A ray of silvery light appeared behind his opponent, and the dust motes gathered together into Xina leaning on her staff and smiling.  
"So am I," Roquen whirled to see Xina. and more importantly to his eyes, the staff. She bit her lip and looked at the staff. "This better work."  
"Do you know how to use that, girl?" Xina snickered and jabbed a finger at Roquen.  
"By the power of the moon, I'll punish you!" Roquen's dark form seemed confused and scratched its head.  
"What was that?"  
"It just sort of popped out," she said sheepishly.  
"What is with the blue and white dress?" Jol asked.  
"Oh shut up!" A flash of silvery light illuminated the region. As it passed they were in a realm of gray nothingness. The darkness of Roquen's form vanished, leaving the image of him as he was before his undead transformation. Fortunately for Xina's pride, the sailor fuku had been replaced by the fine, if now worn, garments Zelgadis had provided her with.  
"I'd say she does," they all turned to see a purple haired man with a strong resemblance to both Xina and Xalan leaning back against a tree in the middle of the nothingness. A smiling woman somewhat like Amethyst stood a few feet away, until she saw Roquen of course.  
"Villian, in the name of justice you shall be smited!"  
"Yep, that must be Amethyst's mom," Xina said dryly.  
"It is sort of hard to miss the resemblances," Jol admitted.  
"Actually, this time Amelia has it about right," Xellos said cheerfully, then yawning.  
"What do you mean by that? Justice is an illusion," Roquen laughed. "There is no greater order to the world, it was created on the whim of a lunatic."  
"You should be very glad that she can't hear you right now." The speaker appeared among them all. He was a tall human seeming man with yellow eyes and a thick mane of what looked like raven feathers. He was wearing an odd looking black tunic and black patched jacket. His pants and boots were of similar color and state of wear.  
"And what dead soul is this?" Roquen demanded.  
"I am called many things, Ravenwolf, the Meddler, Gabriel," he smiled, a predatorial showing of teeth. "But most call me the Vagabond."  
"I'll be sure to find your soul and torture it for...." The necromancer's eyes widened tremendously as a hole appeared in the grey nothingness. Beyond was roiling darkness. "You can't take me, I'm bound." He gestured to back to the nearly invisible silver cord binding him back to his phylactery.  
"That can be taken care of," Jol said, sword appearing in his hand and slashing down through the cord.  
"NOO!!! I cast all the spells! I should be immortal!" A wind seemed to rise up, but it only touched the necromancer's soul. "NOO!!"  
"You probably should have stayed away from my realm," the Vagabond laughed as the necromancer was drawn inexorably to the dark portal. "You've been a fool the entire way, thinking to command the duties of a power."  
"You can't do this! There are rules! There are ruuuuules aaaaaiieee!!!" Finally, despite all attempts to break from the sucking wind, Roquen flew into the portal which closed silently behind him.  
"I MADE most of the rules," the vagabond laughed. "Speaking of which." he faced Jol and Xina. "This is not the astral, open to any who can find it, this is the realm of the waiting dead. And, as much as it surprises me, you're still alive."  
"No wait...I want to talk to..." Xellos waved as the grayness vanished from around them. "My father." She said quietly as she recognized the dungeon around her.   
  
  
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	43. Epilogue

  
Slayers Born  
  
  
  
Epilogue  
  
  
  
"You really should appoint a new custodian of dead souls."  
"I suppose that this is your business as well."  
"Indeed. We always had intercepting provinces. People dream of my   
duties and wake in terror."  
"And your duties send some to their worse nightmares, I've heard it   
before. About your presence here, I had thought you were almost done."  
"When the stars are right. The walls are already weak and they'll come   
down."  
"You WANT the walls to fall? It will be the shapeless war all over   
again."  
"I thought you liked nonexistence."  
"In others, perhaps. The old ones as far beyond us as we are beyond the   
mortals you shepard back to the Source and the Waste."  
The Vagabond smiled  
  
"You gave your word," Xalan insisted.  
"As soon as I finish MY quest," Xina corrected smuggly.  
"I am not playing word games this time."  
"Sorry, not going to do it."  
"Is this likely to take a long time?" Amethyst asked quietly.  
"Well one's a control freak and the other's a brat, what do yo--" a large   
rock flew into the dragon's head, causing him to topple backwards.  
"I heard you!"  
"Oh! Val-Kun!" Xina winced as Tinuviel rushed to the fallen dragon's   
side. Jolrael and Xina glared at Val and Tinuviel respectively, the elf girl   
blissfully unaware.  
"I'm fine," Val spat, springing to his feet and away from Tinuviel before   
fatigued tempers could flare further.  
~Wait, if go visit Mom first, I could get V..err..away from her.~  
~Hmm, if we escort Tinu back home, maybe I can get Val and Tinuviel   
together.~  
~They're both looking at me, this isn't good.~  
~If Val takes them to their forest, it gets Tinuviel away from him.~  
~Why is it so quiet all of a sudden?~  
  
~ValkunissocutewhyisthatgirlsomeantohimohmythisiscertainlyaninterstingplantIwo  
nderwhatitisblackpetalscrushingthemreleasessomesortofchemicalthatitchesthatsen  
sationcamequicklyhowdoestouchworkanyway~  
"Okay, okay, you win I'll go back home, but then I'm going back on the   
road."  
"Good, but first we should help escort Tinuviel back to her home."  
"Don't worry about us, I can get her back home fine."  
"And besides it would be much faster if Val were to just fly us back home   
rather than walking."  
"We can't just leave them here alone."  
"Val-Kun don't go!"  
"Amethyst and Jol can take care of themselves AND Tinuviel."  
"I think I missed something." Amethyst sighed.  
  
"I feel sick."  
~You mean you still feel sick.~  
"Whatever, I don't like this." If the sword had had eyes, they would   
have been rolling. She stood up and started walking forward, tripping on a   
rock and tumbling forward. "Ouch!" she gripped her knee and her hand came   
away with a little blood where her knee had been scraped.  
~Oh dear, it seems that spell purged you.~  
"What? You mean I'm human again?"  
~Apparently so.~  
"This is great!"  
~Excuse me~  
"I'm NOT stuck in this adolescent body forever now! This wonderful,   
great..." she jumped, landed and fell on her rear clutching her knee.   
"...and painful." Then there was this loud growling noise. "What was that?"  
~I believe it was your stomach.~  
"Okay, what does that mean?"  
~You were human once, not me.~  
"I haven't been human in over six hundred years!!"  
  
"Don't worry, dear," Martina whispered. "We'll make them pay, and then   
we'll take the staff." Zangulus opened his eyes a crack, enough to see   
Martina's green framed face hanging over him.  
"I failed you," he whispered.  
"It was my failure," she told him, biting down on the rage she felt.   
"One which Zomalgustar has given me the power to correct." She lifted the   
cauterized stump of his arm to her face and kissed it. He watched her smile   
at him sweetly, just before she plunged a dagger into his chest. His eyes   
widened in shock and then he fell limp. He became aware of lifting away from   
his body, rising weightless into the sky shortly before a wave black power   
clutched at his body and soul. Suddenly he was seeing out of his body again,   
through slit pupiled-eyes. He pushed himself up, with two hands and looked   
at the smuggly satisfied Martina.   
  
  
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End file.
